Scientists have discovered a small three-eyed predator called Mosura fentoni. Nicknamed the “sea moth”, the creature lived in the ocean about 506 million years ago.
The new study was published on May 13 in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
It belonged to an ancient group of sea creatures called radiodonts, which are related to today’s insects, spiders and crabs. Fossils show it had a unique body part with 16 segments and gills, helping it breathe better.
This feature is similar to parts seen in modern animals like horseshoe crabs and woodlice. Experts believe Mosura fentoni evolved in a way like these modern creatures. The discovery shows that ancient sea animals were already very diverse.
“The new species emphasises that these early arthropods were already surprisingly diverse and were adapting in a comparable way to their distant modern relatives,” CNN quoted study coauthor Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron as saying.
No animal looks like Mosura fentoni
No living animal today looks quite like Mosura fentoni. It had jointed claws like insects or crabs. It also had a large third eye in the middle of its head.
Mosura likely swam like a stingray, using flaps to glide underwater. Its mouth looked like a pencil sharpener, lined with sharp plates.
“Although not closely related, Mosura probably swam in a similar way to a ray, undulating its multiple sets of swimming flaps up and down, like flying underwater,” said Dr Joe Moysiuk, curator of palaeontology and geology at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.
“It also had a mouth shaped like a pencil sharpener and lined with rows of serrated plates, unlike any living animal,” he added.
Around the size of a human finger, it reminded scientists of a moth, so they called it a “sea moth”. Its forked claws were unusual, possibly used to grab small prey and move it towards its sharp mouth.
“It’s a bit of a puzzle how exactly it was using these to capture prey, but we think it might have seized smaller animals with the tips of the spines and passed them towards the mouth,” Moysiuk said.
Mosura lived alongside small worms and crustaceans it may have eaten. Mosura itself might have been hunted by larger sea animals like the jellyfish.
Ocean life millions of years ago
Experts say this discovery gives more clues about how ocean life worked millions of years ago. Interestingly, Mosura had an unusual trunk-like body part. It was different from what is usually seen in similar creatures.
This feature may help scientists understand how these sea animals evolved from simple, worm-like bodies to more complex forms.