Cambrian Jellyfish Fossils!!! 

If you write a blog like this you seldom expect to write the words jellyfish and fossils in close proximity. To write "Cambrian Jellyfish Fossils" as a thing would have been an impossible dream. But it is the Burgess Shale so anything is possible. 

I was directed to THIS PAPER by a correspondent. It is based on THIS ACADEMIC ARTICLE published by the Royal Society. As mentioned above the fossils come from the Burgess Shale and from the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Jellyfish are, as the name implies, soft bodied, and are extremely unlikely to be fossilised. But the Burgess Shale is very good at preserving soft bodies the illustration shows the results.

Size variations and general morpho-anatomical details of Burgessomedusa phasmiformis gen. et sp. nov. (a) Holotype ROMIP65781.1 (close-up in figure 2a). (b) ROMIP65782.2–3, with putative gonads (close-up in figure 2b). (c), ROMIP65783.1, with putative gonads. (d) ROMIP65784, with putative stomach cavity. e,f, specimens with putative gonads ROMIP65785 (e), ROMIP65786 (f). (g) ROMIP65787, with a contracted umbrella. (h) ROMIP65788, with putative gonads (close-up in figure 2e). (i) ROMIP65114.1–3. (j) ROMIP65789. (k) ROMIP65790.1–2. Abbreviations: bm, bell margin; go, gonads; man, manubrium; st, stomach cavity; ten, tentacles. Scale = 2 cm.

Morphological details of Burgessomedusa phasmiformis gen. et sp. nov. (a) Close-up of stomach cavity, manubrium, and gonads, ROMIP65781.1. (b) Close-up of tentacles ROMIP65782.2. (c,d) specimen showing disarticulated tentacles (close up in d), ROMIP65791. (e) Close-up of tentacles showing equidistant interspaces, ROMIP65788. (f,g) ROMIP65792, with short tentacles (close up in g) placed under the oral umbrella margin. (h,i), ROMIP65793, with tentacle remnants (close up in i). (j) ROMIP65794, specimen with irregular umbrella margin. (k) ROMIP65795.1, specimen showing tetraradial symmetry. All abbreviations are as in figure 1. Scales = 1 cm.

This discovery has generated a lot of interest and you may have seen it referenced in various newspapers.