500 million year old 'Tulip'

Just from the title of this article caught my attention right away, and what I found was very interesting and exciting to read about.

This is not a real tulip, but a creature that has a similar shape of one. It's body structure is very different from other known animal. This creature was called filter feeder (Named Siphusauctum gregarium), it had a tulip shape body and a tail that looked like a stem and went into the grounds of the seafloor. These creatures aren't large, they come to the size of a dinner knife (8 inches, or 20 centimeters). It's body contained its feeding system and gut. These creatures that appear to look like tulips, were good at hiding from predators. Just like some animals and bugs that easily blend into their surrounds. That is my hypothesis on these ancient tulip looking creatures. 


This ancient tulip was found fossilized in a 500 million year old rock layers called the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. My guess as to what scientist and researcher's are discussing is what more was this creature. Did it do anything for the sea environment (on the seafloor)? Study researcher Lorna O'Brien, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto, says that they can't figure out where this creature belongs in the animal group. " The Siphusauctum defies this trend. We do not know where it fits in relation to other organisms" says O'Brien.  


So as of right now, not much information can be said about this tulip, but i found it to be very interesting and brought my curiosity of wanting to know more. I do hope that more information about this discovery unfolds. I want to know what it did on the seafloor 500 million years ago. 


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46048230/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.TxkHt3NuHrV