Brooksella refers to a cluster of enigmatic fossils dating to approximately 514 million years ago, initially discovered in Alabama. These star-shaped fossils resemble flowers, starfish, or butter cookies. Although scientists have previously identified Brooksella as diverse types of marine creatures, a new investigation implies that they lacked animal characteristics.
More than a century ago, the tale commenced with Charles Doolittle Walcott, a palaeontologist from the Smithsonian Institute. Walcott scrutinized the fossils and linked them to jellyfish. Over time, several origins for Brooksella were suggested by scientists. It was proposed that they might be algae or shapes imprinted by gas bubbles. In 2006, a team of researchers said they were a sea sponge.
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On Friday, a new analysis was published in PeerJ. It involved examining the shape, orientation, internal structure, and chemical composition of fossils referred to as pseudofossils, according to the researchers’ findings.
According to a statement in PeerJ by Sally Walker, a palaeontologist from the University of Georgia and a co-author of the new study, Brooksella caught her attention because it had a 3D structure resembling a star-shaped, puffy pastry, which is uncommon for soft and squishy creatures such as sponges. Sponges tend to get flattened during the fossilization process, and a fossil over 500 million years old is even more likely to have lost its shape.
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Twenty-seven additional photos are available.
The researchers discovered that Brooksella did not possess significant characteristics of marine sponges. Specifically, sponges’ canals presumed to be utilized to strain food from water were oriented in the wrong direction – downward into the sediment. Additional significant evidence was obtained by contrasting the fossils to recognized non-fossilized concretions from adjacent rock layers. “Aside from the fact that Brooksella had lobes and the concretions did not, we found no discernible differences between them,” the team noted.
The researchers stated in their study that the extensive past description and reassessment of Brooksella “reveals one of the most enduring difficulties in investigating the early stages of complex life – the challenge of differentiating between life and non-life.” These specific researchers have concluded that these mysterious objects are likely “non-life,” but this conclusion does not mark the end of the story. Science allows for constant reevaluation, and the enigma of how these unique structures emerged remains unsolved. Undoubtedly, we will continue to hear more about Brooksella in the future.
