THE first animal to appear on Earth has been identified — and its ancestors are now aquarium favourites.
The jellyfish-like ctenophore appeared up to 700million years ago.
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Creatures to evolve from it include sponges, sharks and eventually humans.
The soft-bodied ctenophores left no direct fossil records, so an international team compared genetic information with common ancestors.
Prof Daniel Rokhsar, of California University, said: “It’s exciting. We’re looking back deep in time.
“Sponges had been widely considered the earliest surviving branch of the animal tree.”
Ctenophores evolved from single-celled life which began four billion years ago.
Commonly called comb jellies, they are now found throughout the ocean.
The study is published in the journal Nature.
