What is it?
Attenborites is thought to have lived as a free-floating organism in the water column, similar in lifestyle to a jellyfish.
The discovery of Attenborites was exciting because it represents some of the oldest evidence of animals living as free floating organisms in the water, a lifestyle that is very common in oceans today.
This is a fossil of an Attenborities janeae specimen
How do we know?
The Attenborites fossils that have been discovered have well-defined edges, standing out in relief to the organic mat underneath them. This suggests that the animals did not live in the mat. They have also been discovered in large numbers on a single fossil bed. Together, this suggests that the organisms travelled in groups suspended in the water and were swept out of the water column by a storm and laid on top of the organic mat where they were fossilised.
The shape you see in the fossil is thought to be the ‘deflated’ organism after it was pulled down and pressed flat by sand, causing irregular grooves and ridges. When Attenborites was alive it likely did not have these grooves and ridges but was smooth and fluid-filled, like an ancient water balloon.
Attenborites
Janeae
The genus name Attenborites, was used in honour of Sir David Attenborough who has visited Nilpena Ediacara National Park and has made major contributions to communicating the significance of the Ediacara Biota to the world. The species name, janeae, was chosen in recognition of Jane Fargher’s commitment to bringing the fossils at Nilpena to the public
