Fishy origin of bizarre fossil 'monster'

[Still Waters]

Scientists say a worm-like fossil with mysterious origins is actually the ancestor of living fish.

The 300 million-year-old animal was found at an Illinois mine in 1958 by fossil collector Francis Tully.

The "Tully monster" has been a puzzle to scientists ever since, and has been likened to worms and molluscs.

US researchers say the fossil is a backboned animal rather than an invertebrate as once thought, based on an analysis of 1,000 museum specimens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-35821829

[Tatetopa]

Well now that is interesting. when I was in college it was considered as weird as the Burgess Shale organisms, which are pre-notocord creatures.

A lamprey-like creature is even better. Check out the mouth on a modern lamprey. It is highly adapted and pretty unusual in its own right. And consider the possibilities. Blow this up by 10x and you have Nessie. A lamprey. fully aquatic, following salmon in and out of fresh water rivers as they still do might be a natural. Certainly fits the descriptions and is much more plausible than an air breathing plesiosaur. Doesn't need to surface, anadromous, out to sea most of the time. It sounds good anyway. It might not be too much of a stretch to find them surviving in land locked freshwater lakes.