The phylum Arthropoda is the largest animal phylum on the planet. These animals are designed with paired, jointed appendages and a chitinous exoskeleton. ICR’s Dr. Tim Clarey stated,
Arthropods represent a major part of the great evolutionary mystery called the Cambrian Explosion. In fact, they are one of the most common fossils in Cambrian system strata. They appear in the rock layers fully formed—without ancestors. Evolutionist Richard Fortey writes, “And yet how can it be that all this variety [the trilobite fossils] arose apparently instantly at the base of the Cambrian?” He continues, “Where then were these ancestors? Why were they apparently invisible?” These questions are easily answered by creationists, who explain the sudden appearance of fossils in the Cambrian system as part of the initial sediments deposited by the Flood. It seems likely that shallow marine organisms would be the first types of animals buried and preserved by advancing floodwaters.1
One cannot discuss the Cambrian biota without mentioning the amazing trilobite. There are at least 150 families of these marine arthropods composed of over 20,000 species, which make up about 70% of the known Cambrian species of metazoans (multicellular animals). Their size normally ranges from one to four inches, but some fossils are as much as 39 inches long. But large or small, they suddenly appear as 100% trilobites, and just like other arthropods such as the insects and crustaceans (e.g., lobsters and crabs), there is no indication of gradual evolution. Trilobites have always been trilobites since their creation thousands of years ago.
Recently, the University of Bristol in England reports that the “most pristine trilobite fossils ever found” are shaking up scientific understanding of these creatures.2 They said, “The fossils, which are more than 500 million years old, were collected in the High Atlas of Morocco and are being referred to by scientists as ‘Pompeii’ trilobites due to their remarkable preservation in ash.”2
In other words, they were suddenly and catastrophically buried and preserved. One would expect this during the Flood year 4,400 years ago since there was great volcanism as the fountains of the great deep erupted.
Indeed, the report in Science stated, “El Albani et al. describe several trilobite fossils created by rapid death and preservation due to an underwater pyroclastic flow. This preservation created three-dimensional fossils with a remarkably well-preserved anatomy.”3 Many of these underwater pyroclastic flows (and turbidity currents) occurred during the Flood. The illustration on the cover of Science “shows trilobites being rapidly engulfed by volcanic ash from an eruption...”3 The picture could easily be interpreted as the initial stage of the Genesis Flood.
The Bristol University report went on to say,
The ash molds preserved each segment of their bodies, their legs and even the hair-like structures that ran along the appendages. The trilobites’ digestive tract was also preserved after it filled with ash. Even small ‘lamp shells’[4] attached to the trilobites’ exoskeleton remained attached by fleshy stalks as they were in life.2
Only rapid burial could produce such results. And speaking of the digestive tract, in 2017 scientists discovered the earliest trilobites had stomachs: “paleontological research unearthed more trilobite complexity: a unique digestive anatomy found in some 270 specimens in the Wulongqing Formation (Guanshan Biota) in China. Some of these fossils ‘contradict previous assumptions about trilobite digestive systems.’”5
One thing is for certain, the amazing discovery of these “Pompeii” trilobites—however fascinating and disconcerting to evolutionists—does not begin to address the origin of trilobites. They were created as trilobites thousands of years ago.
References
- Timothy Clarey, “Trilobites: Sudden Appearance and Rapid Burial,” Acts & Facts, February 2014, 13.
- University of Bristol, “Most Pristine Trilobite Fossils Ever Found Shake Up Scientific Understanding of the Long Extinct Group,” Phys.org, June 27, 2024, https://phys.org/news/2024-06-pristine-t
rilobite-fossils-scientific-extinct.html. - Abderrazak el Albani et al., “Rapid Volcanic Ash Entombment Reveals the 3D Anatomy of Cambrian Trilobites,” Science 384, no. 6703 (2024), 1429–1435.
- Lamp shells are brachiopods, solitary bivalves that live on the seabed or are attached to other animals. Like the trilobites, they suddenly appear in the Early Cambrian as lamp shells.
- Frank Sherwin, “Trilobites Can’t Stomach Darwinism,” Creation Science Update, October 5, 2017, https://www.icr.org/article/trilobites-cant-stomach-darwinism.
* Dr. Sherwin is a science news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.
