When strolling alongside the seashore, it’s not unusual to identify jellyfish gracefully pulsing beneath the waves or washed up on the sandy shore. These soft-bodied creatures not solely captivate our consideration but additionally provide a glimpse into the traditional previous. Not too long ago, researchers made a unprecedented discovery: a 508-million-year-old fossil of an historic jellyfish, presumably the oldest swimming jelly ever discovered by paleontologists.

The newly named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis, as described in a brand new scientific paper, measured about seven inches throughout when it was alive. It possessed over 90 brief tentacles that hung beneath its umbrella-like physique. This exceptional fossil, unearthed within the mountains of British Columbia, confirms that prehistoric jellyfish as soon as occupied reefs, the place they used their tentacles to seize prey swimming within the water column, identical to their trendy family.

Paleontologist Joseph Moysiuk from the Royal Ontario Museum, who was concerned within the examine, described the invention as a “nice” discover. He explains that not like different fossils discovered within the Burgess Shale, this jellyfish fossil stands out as a consequence of its giant and unmistakable anatomy, even when encased in mud. Though the fossil’s true id as an historic jellyfish was suspected for years, it wasn’t till lately {that a} complete evaluation was undertaken. The formal description was revealed within the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

In whole, Moysiuk and his colleagues have recognized 182 fossils of Burgessomedusa at a location known as the Raymond Quarry, the one recognized website the place these fossils have been discovered. Regardless of their exceptional nature, these fossils remained elusive for a few years, resulting in hypothesis about their shortage in comparison with different Burgess Shale fossils. The rationale for this stays a thriller. Moysiuk ponders whether or not these historic jellyfish lived excessive within the water column, inaccessible to the mud flows that buried the seafloor communities.

The seek for Cambrian Interval jellyfish has been ongoing for over a century, with some preliminary misidentifications alongside the way in which. In 1911, Charles Doolittle Walcott, then-administrator of the Smithsonian Establishment, mistakenly categorized a peculiar disc-shaped fossil discovered within the Burgess Shale as a small, round jellyfish. This led to creative depictions of Cambrian life that includes streamlined jellyfish with trailing tentacles. Nonetheless, subsequent analysis revealed that these fossils weren’t jellyfish in any respect, however slightly mouthparts belonging to a singular arthropod known as Peytoia, which used giant, versatile appendages to seize smooth prey.

Regardless of the sooner misidentification, paleontologists have lengthy believed that jellyfish have been certainly current in the course of the Cambrian Interval. Moysiuk explains, “Given their presumably historic roots, we’d count on to see jellyfish preserved alongside different Cambrian animals.” After greater than a century of looking, paleontologists at the moment are starting to find the lacking jellyfish fossils. In 2007, researchers from the College of Kansas described medusa jellyfish fossils from Utah’s 505-million-year-old Marjum Formation. In 2016, one other workforce of paleontologists discovered related fossils in 521-million-year-old rocks in China’s Yunnan Province.

Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless debate concerning the id of those beforehand described Cambrian jellyfish. Moysiuk and his workforce suggest that the sooner discoveries really signify comb jellies, that are totally different from true jellyfish. Comb jellies use lots of of tiny cilia to propel themselves by means of the water, as an alternative of the attribute bell-shaped physique and swimming movement of jellyfish. Regardless of this disagreement, the brand new examine supplies additional proof that the Cambrian Interval was a vital time for jellyfish evolution. Bruce Lieberman, a researcher from the College of Kansas who was not concerned within the examine, emphasizes the importance of the examine, stating that it provides to the compelling proof suggesting that medusozoans, together with jellyfish, have been already well-established in the course of the Cambrian.

Though Burgessomedusa resembles a contemporary jellyfish, it’s not a precise match. Moysiuk explains that the traditional jellyfish shares options with totally different teams of recent jellyfish, making it troublesome to categorise definitively. The physique form of Burgessomedusa resembles that of the infamous field jellyfish, whereas its tentacles resemble these of moon jellies. The mix of traits means that Burgessomedusa could also be an in depth relative of the widespread ancestor from which trendy jellyfish species diverged.

The Cambrian Interval, which spanned from 541 million to 485 million years in the past, performed a pivotal position in shaping the range of life on Earth. Most of the physique buildings seen in present-day animals, together with people, first emerged throughout this time, laying the muse for hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary development.

Moysiuk displays on the importance of Burgessomedusa, stating that it represents yet one more main animal physique plan that may be traced again to the Cambrian—a testomony to the immense biodiversity that had already flourished half a billion years in the past.