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Dontknowwhattodraw94 — The Tully Monster

#lamprey #carboniferous #tullimonstrum #dontknowwhattodraw94 #thetullymonster
Published: 2016-03-28 21:11:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 6880; Favourites: 169; Downloads: 21
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Description Tullimonstrum gregarium is one of those weird creatures from the Middle Carboniferous, 300 million years ago. Its fossils come from the Mazon Creek fossil beds, Illinois. 
The Tully Monster has one of the weirdest looks with its soft, up to 30 cm long body, eyes placed on stalks, a pair of fins on the end of its "tail" and a proboscis with teeth. It was for a long time a mystery what kind of animal it was: a mollusc, an arthropod, a conodont or some kind of worm? Now in 2016, scientists finally found the answer after investigating all the more than 1200 specimens we have of it. They discovered Tullimonstrum had gills and a notochord (a rudimentary spinal cord).
This means the Tully Monster is a vertebrate, particulary a stem-lamprey, a jawless aquatic animal more primitive than fishes. 

It's thought to have lived in shallow water where it searched for prey and other stuff it could eat in the substrate with its toothed proboscis.
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Comments: 67

JustaRandomGourgeist [2017-02-24 04:34:10 +0000 UTC]

Here we go again www.livescience.com/57945-anci…

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to JustaRandomGourgeist [2017-02-24 12:12:12 +0000 UTC]

Y U ALWAYS CHANGE

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FeatherNerd [2016-11-17 06:43:25 +0000 UTC]

THE LOCH NESS!!!

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Asuma17 [2016-07-20 14:45:32 +0000 UTC]

I've seen that thing in Spore once. Matter of fact I created one too....

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masterchiefsenpai [2016-06-07 12:25:17 +0000 UTC]

they're actually aliens

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to masterchiefsenpai [2016-06-07 12:47:31 +0000 UTC]

That's another explanation.

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masterchiefsenpai In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-06-07 12:48:33 +0000 UTC]

legend say they still haunt the ocean to suck our brains out !

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indigomagpie [2016-04-06 11:18:37 +0000 UTC]

Did they ever figure out where its mouth is? Is the proboscis its mouth?

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to indigomagpie [2016-04-06 20:23:23 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, the tip. 

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Sareemi1028 [2016-04-03 16:13:46 +0000 UTC]

The show "Lost" Tapes would probably think of it being some kind of "sea monster" that was sent down by a UFO and is a weapon that the aliens are using against us.

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JeditheSciFiFreak In reply to Sareemi1028 [2016-05-21 19:03:42 +0000 UTC]

So true  

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JustaRandomGourgeist [2016-03-31 07:55:42 +0000 UTC]

what kind of drugs was mother nature tripping on

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candelediva In reply to JustaRandomGourgeist [2017-04-08 10:13:23 +0000 UTC]

LSD. Lots and lots of LSD

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randomdinos [2016-03-31 02:07:30 +0000 UTC]

This is exactly what the child of a lamprey, a snail, and an Opabinia would look like.

Also, we have 1200+ specimens? No wonder this thing was famous before we even knew which phylum it belonged to... xD

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to randomdinos [2016-04-02 21:22:17 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, he was such a good guy to fossilise en masse xD

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PCAwesomeness [2016-03-30 23:45:39 +0000 UTC]

I love this thing now...

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acepredator [2016-03-30 04:32:14 +0000 UTC]

This wins the weird vertebrate lineup.

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to acepredator [2016-03-30 08:32:42 +0000 UTC]

Definitely.

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HaxEX2 [2016-03-29 20:57:39 +0000 UTC]

WUTDUHFUH.

THAT DOESN'T EVEN LOOK REAL. I SWEAR, NATURE WAS ON HIGH BACK THEN.

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Arcovenator [2016-03-29 16:20:15 +0000 UTC]

Yay! Another Tully Monster Nice work!

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to Arcovenator [2016-03-29 18:24:44 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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MarvellousMemento [2016-03-29 14:52:51 +0000 UTC]

Nice drawing! I just very recently realized of the existence to this animal. Very impressive creature! Someone really need to design a bicycle out of this thing.

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to MarvellousMemento [2016-03-29 18:25:16 +0000 UTC]

Me too, didn't know it either.

That would look funny xD

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grisador [2016-03-29 13:56:35 +0000 UTC]

It's real ?! At first sight I thought this guy is a cryptid

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to grisador [2016-03-29 18:25:38 +0000 UTC]

It's indeed real.

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grisador In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 22:40:54 +0000 UTC]

Time before Amphibians... Never stops surprise me !

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bh1324 [2016-03-29 09:27:47 +0000 UTC]

You don't see often an animal that had long been thought by most scientist to be a mollusk to turn out to be a "fish" (yeah, I know that term is paraphyletic).

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to bh1324 [2016-03-29 10:21:42 +0000 UTC]

Uhu, it's quite an awesome discovery.

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TheAsianGuyLOL [2016-03-29 05:49:52 +0000 UTC]

Yay, you drew it too . Yay., pretty weird to see such a primitive animal so late in the time period. 

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to TheAsianGuyLOL [2016-03-29 10:07:20 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, you'd expect it to be from the Silurian or Ordovician.

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Clawedfrog [2016-03-29 03:02:07 +0000 UTC]

I was reading about this the other day. So awesome.

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to Clawedfrog [2016-03-29 10:07:54 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I saw some articles about it popping up a few days ago too. Couldn't let this one pass.

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HUBLERDON [2016-03-29 02:25:04 +0000 UTC]

How weird! Why does it have a joint in its distendible maw?

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to HUBLERDON [2016-03-29 10:08:48 +0000 UTC]

I have no idea, I guess so it can point in all directions or something like that.

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HUBLERDON In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 18:04:32 +0000 UTC]

Interesting....looks like an Ultraman villain.

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Constrict0r12 [2016-03-29 01:59:43 +0000 UTC]

What. The f*ck

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DinoRoy39 [2016-03-28 22:59:58 +0000 UTC]

Ah yes, my states fossil

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 10:09:17 +0000 UTC]

Cool to have this as your state fossil.

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 11:15:26 +0000 UTC]

Boy is it! Although I'm more for mesozoic life instead of Paleozoic and Cenozoic life, too bad all Illinois has from the Late Cretaceous are a few angiosperm leaves.

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 11:20:59 +0000 UTC]

I'm more for Mesozoic (and Pleistocene) life than Paleozoic and Cenozoic too, but it's still very interesting stuff. 
Oh well, I guess you still have other awesome life forms that aren't from the Late Cretaceous?

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 11:43:47 +0000 UTC]

If I'm not mistaken we have both Mammut americanum and Mammuthus primeginus present too, Arctodus sinus and Casteroides ohioensis here

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 18:30:59 +0000 UTC]

Nice

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 19:20:25 +0000 UTC]

What about you?

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 19:24:10 +0000 UTC]

Iguanodon bernissartensis, a crocodilian from the same location I forgot the name of and then woolly mammoths, Megaloceros and such.

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 19:45:21 +0000 UTC]

Bernissartia?

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 19:46:36 +0000 UTC]

Ah yes, that's the one.

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 20:22:09 +0000 UTC]

Thank you Wikipedia XD

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 In reply to DinoRoy39 [2016-03-29 20:45:40 +0000 UTC]

Our best friend xD

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DinoRoy39 In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-03-29 21:03:35 +0000 UTC]

XD ain't that the truth!

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FejesValentin [2016-03-28 22:14:51 +0000 UTC]

Do we know how flexible was its proboscis? I'm just curious... some artists illustrate this very flexible (like in the case of Opabinia), but others (like you too) made a "joint" for the proboscis...

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