We've updated our Privacy and Cookies Policy
We've made some important changes to our Privacy and Cookies Policy and we want you to know what this means for you and your data.
A 505-million-year-old jellyfish has been discovered
Image source, Jean-Bernard Caron/Royal Ontario Museum
A 505-million-year-old fossil of a jellyfish has been discovered. It's thought to be the oldest of its kind.
The jellyfish fossil was found at Burgess Shale, in Canada- which is a fossil finding hotspot.
The species has been named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis.
They look a bit like a jellyfish with a bell-shaped body and have around 90 short tentacles which would allow them to catch fairly large prey.
Image source, Christian McCall
Fossilised Burgessomedusa phasmiformis are rarely found as they are made up of 95% of water, this means they decay quickly.
Instead their bodies leave an imprint in soft sediments which turn to rock and create what scientists call a 'soft fossil'.
"Finding such incredibly delicate animals preserved in rock layers on top of these mountains is such a wondrous discovery," said Dr Jean-Bernard Caron, co-author of the study.
Because they decay so quickly this means finding out exactly where jellyfish originate from can be difficult, but this discovery can help to learn more about the species.
Jellyfish belong to a subgroup of canidaria, the oldest group of animals to exist which include soft-bodied animals like corals and jellyfish.
Image source, Cultura RM Exclusive/Alexander Semenov
It's thanks to Charles Darwin that jellyfish started to be looked at by scientists because of his theory of natural selection.
Following this, another scientist, who read Darwin's work, studied the evolution of jellyfish, and how they came to be the peculiar creatures that they are!
He found that millions of years ago, when organisms were developing in the ocean, jellyfish split from other sea creature groups.
Image source, PHILIPPE HUGUEN