Hey guys, Ralf here! I am SO EXCITED to bring back this series! It's been so long since I talked about funky lil creatures! This month’s creature is the Charnia Masoni! Known for being hard to put in a box and leaf-like, this animal-fungi-algae-??????? sessile creature was first discovered in 1957 in exposed rocks at the Charmwood Forest in Leicester by Tina Negus and confirmed by Roger Mason.
It was the first precambrian lifeform to be discovered, and it was also the creature that renewed interest in precambrian lifeforms, this renewed desire to research and study precambrian life eventually snowballed into the International Union of Geological Sciences‘s recognition of the ediacaran period as its own period.
Due to this fact, Charnia masoni is regarded as one of the most iconic animals of the precambrian era.
It is currently assumed that the Charnia ate by absorbing nutrients in the water, and exhibits a fractal-like anatomy offset along the bilateral line, known as glide reflection, a precursor to bilateral symmetry. However, recent examination shows that variations in branching occur at the third or fourth order branching, which puts its classification as a rangeomorph at risk.
I like Charnia because of its iconic shape. There's just something so…cute, weird, cool and odd about it. Because of that, it's been sitting in my brain, rent free, for the past 100000 years.
Anyways, that’s about it for this month’s animal! I hope you liked it and see you on the other side!
-Ralf