Bivalves looked different in the time of the dinosaurs, as these fossils of a super-tough oyster (left) and an armored cockle show. (Image courtesy of Smithsonian Institution)
About 66 million years ago—perhaps on that fateful May day—an asteroid slammed into our planet.
The effects of this event were immediate and devastating. Research suggests that about 70% of species disappeared in a geologically short time, and it wasn’t just the famous dinosaurs that once roamed the earth. The inhabitants of the Mesozoic oceans were also affected, from mosasaurs, a group of aquatic reptiles at the top of the food chain, to the exquisitely shelled relatives of squid known as ammonites.
Even those groups that survived the disaster, such as mammals, fish, and flowering plants, suffered significant losses in population and species. Invertebrates in the oceans fared no better.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
