425 Million Year Old Sea Creature Resembled Bottle Brush

Posted on January 23, 2014

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a 425 million year old arthropod that resembled a bottle brush or toilet brush. The arthropod was found in the Silurian Lagerstatte in the limestone Wenlock Series of Herefordshire, England, where many well preserved ancient invertebrates are discovered. Scientists say it "preserves ancient invertebrates as calcitic void infills enclosed within carbonate nodules in a volcaniclastic deposit."

A research paper on the Silurian short-great-appendage arthropod, named Enalikter aphson, was published here in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Scientists digitally recreated the creature in 3D. Dr Derek Siveter, of Oxford University, told the Daily Mail, that in 3D the creature "looks a bit like a tiny bottle brush, or even a Christmas tree. It is beautiful." Dr. Siveter also describes the amazing find as "the jewel in the crown of palaeontology."

Here are some highlights of the findings about Enalikter aphson:

It lived in the oceans 425 million years ago when the water was much warmer
It was about 2.4 centimeters (1 inch) long
It's head shield was about 1.5 times as long as it was wide
It had no eyes
It caught tiny sea creatures with its whip-like tongue
It had a pincher on the end of its tail

ANIMALS
EXTINCT SPECIES