article_snippet.sent: However, experts suggest that there may be a more earthly answer –  that the ‘screw’ is in fact a fossilised sea creature.
article_snippet.sent: The screw-like shape may actually be the reversed-shape of the creature, which gradually dissolved while the rock formed around the rock.
article_snippet.sent: The leading hypothesis from experts who have seen photos of the stone is that the ‘screw' is actually the remains of an ancient sea creature called a crinoid.
article_snippet.sent: The screw-like shape may actually be the reversed-shape of the creature, which gradually dissolved while the rock formed around it.
article_snippet.sent: It is thought that the fossilised creature in the mysterious rock is a form of ‘sea lily’ – a type of crinoid that grew a stalk when the fossilised creature in the mysterious rock became an adult, to tether itself to the seabed.
article_snippet.sent: Crinoids were extremely common millions of years ago, and countless fossils have been found, some segments of which do resemble screws.
article_snippet.sent: In fossilised form, the stem does resemble a screw.
article_snippet.sent: However, some say that the stalks of crinoids were typically much smaller than the ‘screw’, with slightly different markings, and have discarded the theory.
article_snippet.sent: In this case sceptics claim the screw is nothing more than the fossilised remains of a crinoid marine animal, while believers note that the screw is very different from the surrounding fossil evidence.
article_snippet.sent: The leading hypothesis is that the ‘screw; is actually the remains of an ancient sea creature called a crinoid.
article_snippet.sent: It had a thick stem that attached It to the sea bed, which looks a bit like a screw when It's fossilised (pictured)
article_snippet.sent: It really is a remarkable fossil and shows two separate species of a spineless animal that lived at the bottom of the sea around 300 million years ago.'
highlights_snippet.sent: But it's more likely to be a fossilised sea creature called a Crinoid .