Ancient Marine Creature Fed Using Its Facial Appendages
Posted on March 26, 2014
A large ancient marine animal, Tamisiocaris borealis, fed using its bizarre facial appendages. A new study, led by the University of Bristol, explains how the creature used its appendages to filter plankton. The creatures lived 520 million years ago during the Early Cambrian and belong to an anthropod group known as the anomalocarids. The creatures swam using large flaps on the sides of their bodies. An artists' reconstruction of Tamisiocaris borealis is pictured above and fossil feeding appendages of Tamisiocaris are pictured below.
Many anomalocarids used the large appendages in front of their mouths to capture prey, such as trilobites. The study shows that at least one anomalocarids species, Tamisiocaris, evolved into suspension feeders. Tamisiocaris did not grab prey with its appendages but used them to trap tiny crustaceans and other organisms.
Dr. Jakob Vinther, a lecturer in macroevolution at the University of Bristol, says in a statement, "These primitive arthropods were, ecologically speaking, the sharks and whales of the Cambrian era. In both sharks and whales, some species evolved into suspension feeders and became gigantic, slow-moving animals that in turn fed on the smallest animals in the water."
The researchers created a 3D computer animation of the feeding appendage. Take a look:
A research paper, A suspension feeding anomalocarid from the early Cambrian, by Jakob Vinther, Martin Stein, Nicholas R. Longrich and David A. T. Harper was published here in Nature.