HMN 2026: How Rare soft-bodied fossil from Quebec reveals a new jellyfish relative from 450 million years ago

Canadian researchers studying 450-million-year-old fossils near Quebec City have identified a new species of basal-medusozoan: Paleocanna tentaculum, a soft-bodied, tube-shaped polyp with a ring of tentacles. Closely related to modern jellyfish, the species was identified from fossils discovered about 50 kilometers northeast of Quebec’s capital. It’s a rare find: only a few other species in its subphylum have ever been described in the fossil record.

It’s likely the fossils were preserved during a sudden burial event on the seafloor during the Paleozoic era, when fine mud quickly covered the animals and protected their remains from scavengers and disturbance.

The find by researchers at Université de Montréal and McGill University is detailed in a study published in February in the Journal of Paleontology.

How the fossils were preserved

“Because several (polyps) are aligned in the same direction, we think they were buried in place or were not transported far before being buried,” said the study’s lead author, Greta Ramirez-Guerrero, a Ph.D. candidate at UdeM supervised by biology professor Christopher B. Cameron.

“This rapid burial, combined with low-oxygen conditions in the surrounding environment, slowed decay and helped preserve the animals before the sediment turned to rock,” said Ramirez-Guerrero.

Soft-bodied organisms do not preserve as well as hard-bodied organisms, usually making any soft-bodied fossil more valuable to understanding the history of life, said co-author Louis-Philippe Bateman, a graduate student in biology at McGill.

Quebec’s quietly rich fossil heritage

The discovery also highlights Quebec’s significant fossil record, he added. “I’ve often caught myself saying that we have a less glamorous fossil record than places like British Columbia or Alberta,” Bateman explained. “Discoveries like this one show that many things have yet to be discovered and described here.”

The fossils were found in Saint-Joachim, in the Upper Neuville Formation of the Saint Lawrence Lowlands. The area is “among the most species-rich fossil localities on the planet” for fossils from the Paleozoic era’s Ordovician period, said Cameron.

He and his fellow researchers examined 15 slabs of shaly limestone containing around 135 specimens, and measured and photographed 39 of them. To identify them, the scientists compared the physical features of each with 69 other fossil and living jellyfish-related species.

Their analysis showed that Paleocanna tentaculum is more closely related to today’s jellyfish than to other ancient relatives.

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From amateur find to museum treasure

The fossil specimens are curated at the Musée de paléontologie et de l’évolution (MPE) in Montreal, where they will be the subject of further research.

“We must pay tribute to John Iellamo, a reputed amateur fossil collector and member of our museum, who found these fossils in 2010 and subsequently donated them to the MPE,” said the museum’s founder Mario Cournoyer, a co-author on the study. “He was able to recognize the scientific importance of these fossils and made them available for research. Without him, we would not be talking about this new species.”

Bateman added that the Saint-Joachim site could yield further discoveries. “Once you find them, these kinds of sites tend to keep producing spectacular new material and species for many years, so I’m expecting many more new interesting discoveries to come,” he said.

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