An entirely new classification of soft-bodied, tube-dwelling polyp medusozoans has been established by paleontologists, based on remarkably intact specimens recovered from a locale situated approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Quebec City, Canada.
Depiction of
Paleocanna tentaculum
individuals inhabiting solitary tubes, as well as aggregated formations of two or three interconnected tubes. Credit: Ramirez-Guerrero
et al., doi: 10.1017/jpa.2025.10211.
“The gelatinous zooplankton and their sessile relatives belong to an ancient phylum of life known as cnidarians,” stated Professor Christopher Cameron of the Université de Montréal, alongside his research associates.
“Given the delicate nature of their constituent tissues, preservation in the fossil record is exceedingly rare, creating significant lacunae in our comprehension of their evolutionary trajectories.”
This newly identified species thrived in the marine environments of the Ordovician period, approximately 450 million years prior to the present day.
Designated as
Paleocanna tentaculum,
this ancient metazoan creature resided within erect tubular structures, either solitarily or in communal arrangements.
The polyp form itself was characterized by an elongated, slender morphology, crowned with a circlet of tentacles that would extend beyond the aperture of its protective tube.
“Representing a close evolutionary kindred to contemporary jellyfish,
Paleocanna tentaculum
constitutes an exceptional paleontological find,” the investigating paleontologists commented.
“Indeed, only a minuscule fraction of species within its subphylum have previously been documented in the fossilized strata of the Earth.”
Paleocanna tentaculum
. Image credit: Ramirez-Guerrero
et al., doi: 10.1017/jpa.2025.10211.
The geological substrates that yielded these fossilized remains, embedded within the upper facies of laminated, argillaceous limestone formations, were unearthed from a modest excavation site within the Neuville Formation in Quebec, Canada.
“This particular region is recognized as one of the most biodiverse paleontological locales globally for Ordovician-era fossil assemblages,” Professor Cameron elaborated.
The research team meticulously surveyed 15 geological samples of the shaly limestone, which collectively harbored approximately 135 individual specimens of
Paleocanna tentaculum
.
“Invertebrates possessing soft anatomical structures exhibit significantly diminished fossilization potential compared to organisms with rigid exoskeletons or skeletal frameworks, thereby rendering any discovery of soft-bodied fossils of paramount importance for elucidating the historical progression of life on Earth,” observed Louis-Philippe Bateman, a postgraduate scholar at McGill University.
“Furthermore, this finding underscores the substantial paleontological heritage of the province of Quebec.”
“I have frequently acknowledged that our region’s fossil record is often perceived as less spectacular when contrasted with renowned locations like British Columbia or Alberta.”
“However, breakthroughs such as this demonstrate unequivocally that a multitude of undiscovered and undescribed biological entities await revelation within our local geological context.”
Through comparative analyses between
Paleocanna tentaculum
and extant as well as fossilized congenerics, the scientific panel ascertained that its phylogenetic affiliations lie closer to modern cnidarian groups, including cubozoans (box jellyfish), scyphozoans (true jellyfish), and stalked jellyfish, than to other extinct relatives characterized by their tubular habitations.
This phylogenetic placement situates the newly identified species at a more proximate evolutionary juncture to the contemporary lineage of the hydrozoan family tree than the majority of other fossilized polyp forms heretofore documented.
“The extraordinary state of preservation exhibited by these fossil specimens elevates this discovery to the echelon of rare instances where delicate, soft-bodied organisms are successfully recovered from Ordovician geological strata,” the authors concluded in their report.
Their scientific publication was officially released on February 13, 2026, within the esteemed pages of the
Journal of Paleontology
.
_____
Greta Ramirez-Guerrero
et al. Thecate stem medusozoan polyp from the Upper Ordovician of Québec.
Journal of Paleontology
, published online February 13, 2026; doi: 10.1017/jpa.2025.10211
