Fossils of Opabinia regalis were first discovered from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada and were described by Charles D. Walcott in 1912.
Opabinia is distinguished by its five eyes at the front of its head and a long, flexible proboscis that bears an array of grasping spines at the end.
Opabinia is believed to have lived in soft sediment on the sea floor. It was an active predator that swam by using its lateral lobes for propulsion. The long proboscis is assumed to have been used to capture prey and transport it to the mouth located beneath the head. The proboscis might also have been plunged into the sediment to pull worms from their burrows.
The relationship of Opabinia to the rest of the animal kingdom is still unknown.
You should stat up some of these fossil marvels for some Cambrian roleplaying action in your game!
ReplyDeleteRiffing off of nature for gaming inspiration was my intent for this feature. I didn't want to include any stats in the blog post, though, lest I unduly influence anyone else who wanted to turn these weird wonders of nature into monsters of their own. There are so many different ways you spin these things into D&D monsters or Lovecraftian horrors.
ReplyDeleteIIRC Dragon #204 had an article with AD&D stats for giant-sized versions of the Burgess Shale creatures. It was ok, but not as interesting as the Stephen Baxter story where a time-travel probe converts them all to Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteOkay, wow. Any book with Catholic Burgess Shale creatures has got to be worth reading. I'm going to have to check this one out.
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