But today, it is the conulariids that have all been turned to stone since they have been extinct for more than 200 million years.
And unlike the Medusa, they were also probably quite shy and attractive -- resembling tiny flowers emerging from a decorative pots built from little box-like ridges of calcium phosphate that were anchored to the sea floor.
Modern cnidarians such as corals make their shells from calcium carbonate, but conulariide used layered rods of calcium phosphate to construct an angular outer theca. This unique characteristic of conulariidae has contributed to the beauty of their fossilized remains.
From an opening in the top, the animal extruded their stinging testicles poised to withdraw into their protective homes if threatened.
Conulariids were among the first metazoans to evolve during the shadowy Edicarian, when the ocean floor was a simple, garden-like environment undisturbed by mobile animals. Conulariids survived the Cambrium explosion in which almost all of today's body plans were created. By the late Ordovician when the above fossil was still alive, the conulariids were already 100 million years old and at the peak of their success.
The image to the right is based upon a model suggested by Vladislav Egorov and Jaagup Metsalu from the Estonian Museum of Natural History.
Thanks to Jacob B for finding, identifying and photographing the fossil above. The specimen was found near Red Caboose Park in Nashville.
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