A 2,000-year-old organism was found near the site of the BP oil spill.

Found 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, this black coral is much older than you might assume. The corals are so ancient that they have been around since the time of Jesus! These creatures feed on organic matter that falls to the ocean floor and are quite fragile.

They were being studied by scientists before the BP disaster as part of a federal survey, and now there are concerns that the pollution could damage the delicate ecosystem for several decades, maybe even centuries! This is not hard to imagine, considering the fact that black coral grows 2,000 times slower than human fingernails.
(source)