Scientists have just discovered a strange prehistoric creature that brings our very understanding of ancient ecosystems into question.
Scientists have been peering back in time by studying fossils for generations, and clues left behind by bizarre organisms that once roamed the earth are a constant source of surprise and intrigue. According to a report from Discovery News, researchers from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have analyzed the remnants of an ancient creature, called Tribrachidium, and found that it was much more complex than anyone imagined early life could be.
Tribrachidium lived in shallow waters in the late Edicaran period, roughly 550 million years ago. The animal had a peculiar design, characterized by three-fold symmetry. The vast majority of animals exhibit bilateral symmetry, with two sides forming mirror images of each other. Tribrachidium had three tentacle-like arms that protruded from a central point, almost like a simpler-looking sea star.
Because the Tribrachidium had no surviving relatives today, lead researcher Imran Rahman and his team used computer models to imagine how the organism moved, ate, and reproduced. Based on the available information, the team believes that Tribrachidium likely ate by filtering tiny particles in the water.
The creature could be one of the first organisms on the planet to have adapted to stationary filter feeding in the water. It lived roughly 40 million years prior to the Cambrian explosion, a period of time where Earth’s biodiversity increased at an exponential rate.
The computer models used in the study painted a picture of what Tribrachidium probably looked like in its environment, showing how it affected water currents and the chemical makeup of its surrounding environment. “This is really exciting, because we didn’t have any good evidence of suspension feeding in organisms of this time period previously,” said Rahman.
A press release from the University of Bristol outlining the details of the study can be found here.