Opabinia, which swam the seas of Earth’s Cambrian era some 500 million years ago, was not just a one hit wonder. By Jack Tamisiea Of all the strange creatures unearthed from the Burgess Shale ...

Compared to other creatures of the Cambrian seas, Synophalos xynos seems rather plain. It was not a living pincushion like Wiwaxia, its body did not resemble a walking cactus like Diania, and it ...

The iconic arthropods of the Cambrian were the trilobites, which left a huge number of fossils. Trilobites had flattened, segmented, plated bodies that helped to protect them in seas that were ...

Jim describes his tattoo: “a design of Opabinia regalis, a Burgess Shale fossil dating from the Cambrian. It has some pirate imagery, including the hourglass, skull, and nukes. As an ...

The most famous fossils from the Cambrian explosion of animal life over half a billion years ago are very unlike their modern counterparts. These "weird wonders," such as the five-eyed Opabinia ...

Unlike Opabinia, which was discovered in the Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia in Canada, Utaurora was found in Utah and, though still Cambrian, is a few million years younger than Opabinia.

The most famous fossils from the Cambrian explosion of animal life over half a billion years ago are very unlike their modern counterparts. These “weird wonders,” such as the five-eyed ...

During the Cambrian period, Earth’s oceans exploded with new species of swimming, segmented invertebrates — many that look more alien than Earthly. Shutterstock Take Opabinia regalis, for ...

Some 506 million years ago, a predator swept over the silt bottoms of the Cambrian ocean. Its rake-like feeding arms sifted through the murk it raised, funneling soft-bodied worms into a puckering ...

From Hou et al., 2009. [This essay was originally posted on February 24, 2011.] Compared to other creatures of the Cambrian seas, Synophalos xynos seems rather plain.