A new scientific report has questioned over the morphological study, published last year, stating the mysterious ‘Tully Monster’ to be a basal vertebrate.
It is more than 50 years to the discovery of the fossils of Tully Monster, but up to now, the mystery behind the creature is far-flung from the reality. Since more than five decades the enigma of Tully Monster has intriguing scientists, and thus far, no certain credibility can decipher the riddle of Tully Monster.
Tully Monster or Tullimonstrum is a destroyed species of soft-bodied bilaterian which is expected to live in shallow steamy coastal waters of mud-covered estuaries. According to the scientific evidence, the creature was used to live during the Pennsylvanian geological period, which dates back 300 million years. Some 50 years ago, the fossil of the marine species discovered at the central Illinois, after which the researcher were expected to make out the mystery of its configuration, origin, and figure. But surprisingly, it didn’t happen.
After almost five decades, last year, a team of international scientists reported in science journal ‘Nature’ that they had solved the enigma of the mysterious aquatic genus, officially called Tullimonstrum gregarium. According to the last year released paper, Tully Monster was a vertebrate related to the lamprey – a type of jawless fish. The creature had gills and a hardened dowel or might be notochord that operated as its underlying spinal cord which used to support its body. While the notochord previously was believed to be a gut, the last year study, conducted by the palaeontologist of the Britain’s University of Leicester claimed it to be stiffened rod.
After almost one year, a new study has appeared in Live Science that has claimed the previous report to be bogus. According to the new study, published in the journal Palaeontology has alleged that the discoveries made by the mysterious Tully Monster last year were intentionally constructed and are counterfeit. The reality regarding the strange marine animal is still far-off from exploration.
According to the scientists, this type of ‘misassignment’, published in the journal “Nature” in March 2016 is adversely affecting the understanding regarding the evolution of vertebrate and vertebrate diversity simultaneously. The out-of-the-way qualities of the “Tully Monster” have made the aquatic creature incredibly unbreakable to recognise, and scientists are still trying hard to understand how the evolution of ecosystem is taking place.