Sea Creature Thought To Have Gone Extinct 30,000 Years Ago Was Just Uncovered In California
Jeff Goddard thought he’d seen it all. Over a long career as a marine ecologist he’d studied plenty of the weird and wonderful inhabitants of the sea — but now he was facing something genuinely shocking. Goddard had encountered an extremely unusual creature, and he had absolutely no idea what it was.
Searching the shallows
This was back in November 2018 and Goddard was searching through the shallows of a beach close to Santa Barbara in California. He had been looking for sea slugs that day, but that’s not what he found. Instead, what caught his attention were a pair of teeny-tiny clams with a translucent quality. They were unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
Alien organisms
Goddard has since spoken about the moment he found these weird, alien organisms in a statement. He said, “Their shells were only 10 millimeters long. But when they extended and started waving about a bright white-striped foot longer than their shell, I realized I had never seen this species before.”
Taken aback
Goddard was really taken aback by this. He’d been working in this field for a long time by this point, so coming across something novel was an unusual experience. He remained professional, though, and he immediately snapped some photos of whatever it was he was looking at. He knew those images would prove useful.
Needing help
Goddard decided he didn’t want to interfere with these creatures. Collecting them then and there, he felt, would have been a mistake, given how rare they clearly were. No, he felt the images he’d captured would be enough to work with for now. But he needed help, so he sent them to an expert in the form of Paul Valentich-Scott.
