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Name: Madusae Jellyfish; Phylum Cnidaria Age: Middle Cambrian Size: mm (25.4mm=1 inch): Matrix measures 390 mm across Location: Mount Simon Sandstone Outlier, Mosinee,Wisconsin Code: DD19 Price: $525.00 - Sold Phylum Cnidaria (anemones, corals, jellyfish and sea pens) are among the most ancient animals, simplest in body form, and yet are ubiquitous and widespread even today in marine environments. The earliest forms in the fossil record appear in Ediacarian fauna of Southern Australia, which dates to the Precambrian some 600 million years ago. This is clear testiment that old and simple animals can be enormously successful. Here we have a sandstone plate with a Hage Madusae Cambrian Cnidarian from an intriguing site in Central Wisconsin. Being comprised entirely of soft tissue unlike animals with exoskeletons (e.g., trilobites) or skeletons (vertebrates), jellyfish fossils are body fossils that are impressions of the jellyfish. Such fossil impressions are rare, especially from the Cambrian. Jellyfish were some of the most ferocious preditors of the Cambrian marine environment. This is one of the best Jellies to come from the Krakowski quarry. Note in the side views how high the impression is above the matrix base. Note in all the views that there are impressions of internal structures, a truly rare phenomena for a Cnidarian fossil. These jellyfish come from a particular horizon in the Mount Simon Sandstone formation that also yields facinating Diplichnites, huge Jellyfish (Medusae) and Climactichnites. |
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