Mystery Behind Bizarre 'Tully Monster' Leaves Scientists Baffled

Tully Monster Mystery Still Puzzles the Scientists!

Tully Monster or Tullimonstrum gregarium was a mysterious creature that amazed scientists for more than 70 years after its fossil was first discovered. In 2016, a group of researchers from Yale University, Argonne National Laboratory, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum conducted a detailed investigation and claimed that the creature was a vertebrate. However, a study by Dr. Chris Rogers and his colleagues at University College Cork questioned the 2016 research, making the Tully monster a mystery once again, waiting to be solved.

The Fascinating Discovery of Tully Monster

The Tully Monster's fossil was first discovered by Francis Tully, a fossil collector while investigating Mazon Creek in Illinois. The creature, believed to have existed 300 million years ago, was named Tullimonstrum gregarium to honor its discoverer. Since then, many fossils of this worm-like creature have been found. Eugene Richardson, a scientist at the Chicago Field Museum, was the first person to study the fossil in 1966 but could not conclude which category of creatures it belonged to. According to National Geographic , Richardson said, “While this obscure but plentiful animal was being studied, I preferred not to assign it to a phylum.”

Is Understanding Tully Monster a Challenge?

Knewz.com noted that the main challenge associated with assigning a phylum to the Tully monster was the lack of fossils containing an exoskeleton or bones of the creature. All the fossils discovered showed impressions of the creature as a soft-bodied entity. Since the fossils were found alongside those of jellyfish and sea cucumbers, researchers concluded that the Tully monster had lived in coastal waters. The creature had a semi-cylindrical body with sensory organs, fins, and an extension of its head protruding from its body, reported National Geographic . However, since there was not much critical evidence discovered, researchers debated for decades about where to fit the creature in the tree of life.

Could This Be a Vertebrate?

The 2016 research involved over 1,200 specimens of the Tully monster that were studied. The key reason for placing the creature alongside vertebrates was the presence of melanosomes, a pigment that was found arranged in shape and size only in the eyes of vertebrates. The research team included scientists and fossil experts from various museums. The researchers even found a classic vertebrate feature. According to LiveScience , Paul Mayer, the fossil collection manager at the Field Museum, stated, "It had traces of a notochord, the flexible rod-like structure along the back that was present in chordate animals — including vertebrates like us." It seemed the puzzle surrounding the phylum of the creature had been solved, but new studies revealed further revelations.

The Mystery Is Still Unraveling

The team of paleontologists at University College Cork used a particle accelerator to study the chemicals that might have been present in the creature. Upon detailed investigation, Dr. Chris's team discovered that the ratio of zinc to copper in the creature's eyes was lower than that found in the melanosomes of modern-day vertebrates, contradicting one of the main theories that had categorized the Tully monster as a vertebrate, as part of Yale University’s 2016 research. The copper found in the creature's eyes was different from that found in vertebrates and invertebrates, leaving the researchers puzzled once again. Dr. McNamara, one of the researchers, stated in an official statement by University College Cork , "The riddle of what kind of fossil creature this was continued, but future X-ray work would probably play an important part in figuring out the identity of the Tully monster and other enigmatic fossils."