• galoisghost@aussie.zone
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    6 months ago

    Did they really look like this or were there big fat blubbery bits that didn’t survive fossilisation

    • Contramuffin@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Unlikely for there to be bubbly bits. These are bugs, so we know their shape because their exoskeleton (which is what fossilizes) is their shape. Fish haven’t evolved yet

      • galoisghost@aussie.zone
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        6 months ago

        Thanks. I looked it up.

        You saying these are bugs tickles my funny bone imagining a metre long anomalcaris scuttling out from under the fridge, like a scene from a Cronenberg movie.

      • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
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        6 months ago

        These seem to be illustrations of Burgess Shale organisms, Burgess Shale being renowned for the excellent preservation of soft tissues in its fossils, so the bubbly bits were actually quite well preserved, if maybe a bit squished and deflated.

  • bbuez@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    OP acting like they got a chance against #1 smh…

    #3 still lives today in the form of night terrors, seriously wtf is that thing?

    • pyrflie@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Less, one of the major genetic innovations of the late Cambrian was development of jaws. The vast majority of these species would get wrecked by modern fish in moments.

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        6 months ago

        It’s so cool to think we are living in an era of modern superfish, which would absolutely destroy any other fish that ever lived, since fish were upgraded over millions of years to where they are.

        • Sphks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 months ago

          Imagine the future with megafishs, having evolved… fish nets ?.. and lasers!.. and and barbecues…

          • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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            6 months ago

            I mean, it follows that eventually evolution would produce fauna that would take apart a nuclear submarine in seconds.

          • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 months ago

            It is wild to remember we’re all descended from fish. I mostly refer to our primate tendencies (listen to a kid scream and tell me we’re not descended from apes) but a lot of our parts, like our skeletons, are highly modified fish parts. It’s crazy.

          • pyrflie@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            Lasers and barbecues not so much yet, but Blue Whales, Humback Whales, and Whale Sharks have effectively turned their teeth into fishing nets.

    • ImInLoveWithLife@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      I am not a biologist or really anyone with any authority on the matter. Just some guy who likes to read and think about all manner of subjects, so I cannot adequately explain anything here, but if you’re interested in the why, it really boils down to the simplicity of morphological structures early in the development of life on earth, to more complex as evolution did its thing. That’s not to say that evolution has a goal, just that added complexity often means greater advantages. Also, it isn’t as though nothing similar to these creatures exist at all today. These basal forms were a prerequisite to the life we see in the oceans (and on land) today.

      Definitely stay interested and read more about morphology and evolution in general! Fascinating stuff.

    • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 months ago

      One of the big advances around then was being able to be an effective predator at all. It’s likely one of the big causes for the Cambrian explosion was the arms race to not be eaten vs being able to eat your neighbors effectively.

      • Dagnet@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        At the time it was revolutionary, till this day I haven’t seen any attempts at recreating it. I did prefer the earlier 2 stages tho (as in evolution stages), later it wasnt as much fun.