The reconstruction image reveals a stunning and fearsome creature swimming, prompting scientists to borrow the name of an extraterrestrial being from the Oscar-winning film “Dune” to label it.
According to Live Science, this remarkable fossil was unearthed in northern Utah, USA, and belongs to an ancient marine worm.
However, unlike the “appearance” of modern marine worms, the reconstruction shows a body adorned with dozens of sharp, colorful blade-like structures scattered all over its form.
Shaihuludia shurikeni portrayed as an extraterrestrial creature in the American science fiction film – (Graphic: Rhiannon LaVine)
It has been named Shaihuludia shurikeni, inspired by the fictional sandworms called “Shai-Hulud” on the desert planet Arrakis in the American movie “Dune” (released in Vietnam as Dune: The Sand Planet) which won 6 Oscars in 2022.
Moreover, the term “shuriken” is derived from Japanese, referring to the star-shaped throwing weapons used by ninjas, as its bristles – the colorful protrusions – are as sharp as a shuriken’s blade.
According to lead researcher Rhiannon LaVine from the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas, this alien-like creature lived during the Cambrian period (541 to 485.4 million years ago), a time marked by a biodiversity explosion that laid the groundwork for the diverse life forms that followed.
The 7-8 cm long fossil was discovered intact at Spence Shale, a geological formation stretching along the northern Utah and southern Idaho border.
“I opened this rock and immediately knew it was something unusual. The first thing I saw were star or flower-like radial blades.”
The published article in the journal Historical Biology also notes that this new species and its relatives are very rare specimens.
They allow us to “travel through time” back to the Cambrian period, an era when life on Earth changed forever. Currently, scientists have not yet conducted extensive research on this organism, but it is certainly an ancient ancestor of many species in the modern world.
