The jellyfish specimens were found in the Burgess Shale, a fossil-rich site in the Canadian Rockies that provides a glimpse of life during Earth’s Cambrian explosion.
Like other soft-bodied creatures found at the site, the gelatinous jellyfish are preserved in stunning detail. Most still possess upward of 90 fingerlike tentacles, which stick out of the creature’s bell-shaped body like the strings at the end of a tassel rug. Some even retain their stomach contents and gonads.
The species is part of a diverse group called medusozoans, which are thought to have originated at least 600 million years ago and are still swimming in the same seas we know today. But evidence of their rise is scarce. Most fossils from before the Cambrian period are either microscopic or little more than faint imprints, making it difficult to infer how these ancestral jellies lived.
Not all researchers are sold by this reclassification. According to Bruce Lieberman, a paleontologist at the University of Kansas who studied the Utah fossils, the new paper lacks compelling evidence to connect the earlier fossils with comb jellies. Instead, he thinks Burgessomedusa joins a swarm of jellyfish species that patrolled Cambrian seas.
According to Gold, Burgessomedusa’s bell-like shape is reminiscent of modern box jellyfish, which are potent predators that pack a deadly sting. “Box jellyfish are active hunters and use their bell for active reorientation and bursts of speed to go after prey,” Gold said. However, Burgessomedusa appears to lack several sensory structures found in modern jellyfish. “It’s unclear if it had the eyes modern box jellies use to hunt,” Gold said.
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