Why would a worm stand a poor chance of being fossilized?
1 Answer
though there are fossils of worms they are relatively rare because the worm is all soft tissue, there is nothing hard to help preservation.
Explanation:
Sea Shells are a very common type of fossils. Sometimes the actual hard material of the shell including the Calcium Carbonate has been trapped in sediments and preserved. There is no hard material of the worm to be trapped and preserved.
Sometimes the Calcium Carbonate is replaced by other non organic materials that are harder ( the commonly thought of form of fossilization) Worms have no Calcium Carbonate to be replaced only soft tissue so this never happens with worms.
Sometimes the hard shell makes an impression either a mold or a cast or both. The hard shell is encased in the mud or sediment. The mud hardens around the shell and then the shell is dissolved and disappears leaving the impression in the hardened mud. This happens with the soft tissue of the worm. The mud hardens around the soft tissue of the worm and when the soft tissue dissolves it leaves an impression of the worm.
The lack of hard material in a worm makes preservation of evidence of the worm difficult.
