Big news for the vomit community 

Imagine throwing up the contents of your stomach, only to be told that 66 million years from now, scientists will study your fossilized vomit. In a discovery as fascinating as it is nauseating, a Danish fossil hunter stumbled upon a rare specimen of regurgitalite (fossilized vomit), likely the result of a prehistoric predator’s unfortunate meal choice.

At Stevns Klint, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Denmark known for its prehistoric marine fossil record, fossil enthusiast Peter Bennicke made a remarkable discovery. Trapped in the site’s limestone and chalk coastal cliffs, Bennicke unearthed a rare fossil. Officially designated as Danekræ DK-1295, the fossil earned its spot as one of Denmark’s rare natural treasures. This bizarre clump of material was identified as the remains of at least two species of sea lilies — ancient relatives of modern crinoids — that had been devoured and unceremoniously regurgitated by a prehistoric predator.

Crinoids, or “sea-lilies,” have a deceptive plant-like appearance, but are actually animals with functioning digestive and nervous systems. They have existed for over 480 million years, and in their ecological heyday, were far more abundant and diverse than today. Crinoids have a cup-like body (calyx) at their center and numerous branching arms (brachia) that help them filter food from the water. In many recovered crinoid fossils, the calyx was supported by a long, flexible stem anchored to the seabed. They remain abundant in reefs and on the floors of oceanic trenches, yet they are the least understood among living echinoderms, a class of marine invertebrates categorized by their spiny skin. 

“Whereas fossilized bones can only hint at what a creature may have looked like, fossilized vomit provides direct evidence of who ate what — and who later regretted it.”

Crinoid fossils help geologists understand ancient environments. When found in rock, they suggest that the area was once underwater. If many Crinoid fossils are found in Palaeozoic rocks, it suggests the water in that area was shallow. Completely intact fossilized crinoids are rare, but when they do appear, it usually means the animal was buried quickly in calm, low-oxygen water. Since crinoids have a hard, calcareous skeleton and little nutritional value, their presence in a predator’s diet can only indicate one thing: desperation.

Whereas fossilized bones can only hint at what a creature may have looked like, fossilized vomit provides direct evidence of who ate what — and who later regretted it. This can give scientists insight into the prehistoric food chain. In the case of this recent discovery, the presence of undigested sea lilies suggests that the predator, possibly a prehistoric fish or sea urchin, either found them indigestible or simply bit off more than it could chew. Given the fragmented nature of regurgitalites, it can be difficult to link them with certainty to a particular species. Researchers suspect that Danekræ DK-1295 belonged to a prehistoric fish, possibly a shark, but the exact culprit remains unknown.

The white chalk cliffs of the Stevns Klint geological site are renowned for offering a goldmine of paleozoological findings. It’s home to layers that mark the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, about 66 million years ago, during the time of the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. This location elevates the regurgitalite from a random blob into a piece of history.

Why is it important to study what was potentially thrown up by a prehistoric fish 66 million years ago? This is a piece of a bigger puzzle, a key for scientists to reconstruct ancient ecosystem behaviors, how food webs functioned, and how life may have adapted prior to and after major extinction events. Fossilized vomit is a surprisingly helpful artifact for paleontologists to piece together a clearer picture of how Earth’s oceans looked millions of years ago, and how they have changed with time.