THIS ROCK CONTAINS A 20 MILLION YEAR OLD CRAB‼️😱

THIS ROCK CONTAINS A 20 MILLION YEAR OLD CRAB‼️🦀 I found this Mursia yaquinensis crab fossil inside the Astoria Formation on the Oregon Coast. Now I’m using a small air scribe to carefully remove the hardened sediment covering its shell. Every tiny section has to be worked slowly because one wrong move could destroy part of the fossil. Mursia yaquinensis was an extinct species of box crab that lived here during the Miocene, roughly 15 to 20 million years ago. Back then, this area was completely underwater. The seafloor was filled with clams, snails, scallops, fish, shrimp and other crabs. Mursia likely spent much of its life moving across or partially burying itself in the soft ocean sediment. Its thick rounded shell and powerful claws helped protect it and allowed it to feed on other hard-shelled marine animals. After this crab died, it was buried beneath layers of sand, silt and volcanic material. Minerals slowly hardened the sediment around its remains, preserving part of the crab inside this concretion. Now, millions of years later, I’m carefully exposing it one tiny piece at a time. Follow to see what this ancient Oregon crab looks like when the preparation is finished! #Paleontology #Fossils #shorts