A scientist from the University of Leicester has discovered a new type of fossil that reveals life in the oceans half a billion years ago. The tiny organisms, detailed in a new study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, resemble modern-day algae and might also give scientists an insight into the climate changes that affected our oceans.

The fossils are microscopic and look like spiny balls connected together. The study's author Dr. Tom Harvey, from the University of Leicester School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, said, "When I first saw them, I had no idea what they were. I wondered if they could be animal eggs, or some new type of organism. There's nothing quite like them, living or extinct."

But as further specimens came to light, Dr. Harvey identified similarities with modern green algae that live floating in the plankton of ponds and lakes.