Ediacaran Community, Proterozoic Eon (2,500 - 542 Million Years Ago)

Earth’s first animals had soft bodies. This illustration shows a community of soft-bodied Ediacaran (edi-A-karan) animals. Some species resemble living ocean creatures. Others are unlike any known organisms and cannot be classified. Scientists have found fossils of these fauna in sedimentary rocks worldwide. Explore the ancient ocean in an image gallery or in our Ocean Over Time interactive.

 

A rendering of an underwater marine scene from the Proterozoic Eon, featuring a creature that resembles a jellyfish and other organisms.
Smithsonian Institution

View Related Ocean Media Content

comment_wrapper_curve_top

Share your comments here.

* When you click submit, your comment will be added to the queue for review and will be published after approval.

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Filtered words will be replaced with the filtered version of the word.

More information about formatting options

Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.

comment_wrapper_curve