There is nothing wrong with your monitor. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. The creature at the top of this post isn’t an April Fool’s joke, nor is it a Lovecraftian nightmare. Named Yawunik kootenayi, the archaic arthropod is a real animal that undulated through Earth’s seas 508 million years ago.

Following hot on the heels – or is that fins? – of the filter-feeder Aegirocassisthe filter-feeder Aegirocassis – Yawunik is the latest ancient invertebrate to make us ask “What the heck is that thing?” Described by paleontologists Cédric Aria, Jean-Bernard Caron, and Robert Gaines from 42 fossils found in Canada’s Kootenay National Park, the Cambrian critter adds