ABSTRACTS
Jake Hebert and Richard Overman
A previous paper presented strong evidence that fossil Crassostrea oysters lived much longer than their modern-day descendants. This paper presents direct and indirect fossil evidence that other (now extinct) bivalves also experienced great longevity. Ontogenetic growth curves constructed for four genera of Cretaceous and Eocene bivalves from Seymour Island, Antarctica, demonstrate that they exhibited longevity described by mainstream paleontologists as “extreme.” This longevity is difficult to explain in a uniformitarian framework, but whether it is a strong argument for pre-Flood longevity hinges on whether the pre-Flood Antarctic climate was warm or cold. Likewise, studies of extant animals have revealed a positive correlation between greater longevity and greater adult body size, as well as a positive correlation between greater longevity and greater ages at sexual or skeletal maturity. Some fossil bivalves, such as the genus Platyceramus, the rudists (order Hippuritida), and Lithiotid bivalves, were large, slow-growing, and apparently long-lived. However, since these particular bivalves are now extinct, it is not possible to know if their lifespans would have been shortened had they survived to the present day. In light of the Bible’s claim that humans in the pre-Flood world had centuries-long lifespans, this information should be of great interest to creation researchers, since whatever genetic or environmental factors were enabling extreme human pre-Flood longevity were likely also operating in the animal kingdom. These data may add to a growing body of evidence that at least some fossil creatures experienced great longevity.