In Images: A Filter-Feeding Cambrian Creature

Cambrian sea monster

artists reconstruction of cambrian creature — (Image credit: Bob Nichols/University of Bristol)

Scientists have unearthed the fossil of an ancient, filter-feeding sea creature that dates to 520 million years ago.

Filter feeder

tamiscolaris borealis fossil — (Image credit: Jakob Vinther/University of Bristol)

The creature, dubbed Tamiscolaris borealis, used its comblike appendages to rake the seas for shrimplike food similar to krill.

Greenland trove

sirius passet formation area in Greeland — (Image credit: Jakob Vinther/ University of Bristol)

The fossil was unearthed in sediments in northern Greenland known as the Sirius Passet formation.

Excavations proceed

excavations in greenland — (Image credit: Jakob Vinther/University of Bristol)

Here, researchers on the team dig at the site. Research can only take place in six weeks of summer, when the weather is hospitable.

Apex predators

shrimplike-sea-monster — (Image credit: Esben Horn)

The filter feeder was part of a group of Cambrian creatures named anomalocarids, which were the apex predators of the day. They usually had grasping claws in front for snagging prey.

Cambrian explosion

arthropod-fossil — (Image credit: Yie Jang (Yunnan University))

The Cambrian explosion gave rise to a host of bizarre and complex creatures, such as this fuxhianhuiid arthropod from China,