The Canadian Burgess Shale is one of the most important fossil deposits in the world due to the exceptional preservation of its fossils. Located within the Stephen Formation in British Columbia, it was deposited during the middle of the Cambrian period (or the Miaolingian, about 508 Ma). It was once home to a number of strange creatures including many types of arthropods, sponges, worms, brachiopods, ctenophores (comb jellies), early chordates, and many other organisms. While I adore a plethora of the Shale’s interesting fauna (Hallucigenia, Marrella, Opabinia, Ottoia, Sidneyia, Wiwaxia, and many more), there is one that stands out above all the rest, and that is Anomalocaris canadensis.
The first fossils of Anomalocaris canadensis were discovered in the Burgess Shale in 1866 by Richard G. McConnell, with additional specimens collected by Henri-Marc Ami in 1891. It was first named in 1892 by Joseph Frederick Whiteaves. Those earliest fossils were what earned it its genus name, meaning “unlike other shrimp”. As we know now, those initial fossils were of this animal’s frontal appendages, and not of a novel phyllocarid crustacean. Despite that, its true identity wouldn’t be recognized for over a century after it was named. These fossils were first recognized to be appendages of a larger animal in 1979, by Derek Briggs, but what kind of animal they belonged to would still be a mystery for a few more years. The first partial specimen (G. S. C. 75535), discovered in 1966 or 1967, was initially described in 1985 by Harry Whittington and Briggs. While incomplete, it was the first time the appendages were still attached to a body, giving a much better understanding of what the animal looked like than ever before. It was finally recognized and understood to be a radiodont dinocaridid in 1996 by Desmond Collins. The first complete specimen (ROM 51211) was discovered in 1991, nearly a century after it was first named, and was described in the prior paper. A number of other partial and complete specimens have been found since (Daley and Edgecomb, 2014), and a number of papers on its anatomy have since followed.
This brings us to the subject of the review, the Anomalocaris Carri plush, the first of the From The Shale Plushies lineup. These plushies were designed by paleontologist Brennan Martens (BrennanThePaleoDude), and paleo artist Royce Riturban (Saureal). Brennan generously sent me the plush to review here. I’ve also been in touch with him since 2019 over on instagram, so I also like to think of this as a gift from a pal, from one Anomalocaris fan to another. This first lineup is based on fossils found in the Rifle Range site, located within the Eager Formation, in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and is planned to include Olenellus santuccii (a species just named in 2024 by Mark Webster), Tuzoia polleni (named in 1929 by Resser), Wanneria cranbrookense (also named by Webster in 2024), a hyolith, and Ottoia. The oldest occurrence of Anomalocaris canadensis seems to occur in this formation (Caron et al, 2023, Briggs, 1979, and Resser, 1929), during the Lower (or Early) Cambrian, predating the more famous Burgess Shale. The earliest fossil of Anomalocaris from the Eager Formation was initially described as Anomalocaris cranbrookensis by Charles Resser in 1929, now a synonym of Anomalocaris canadensis. With that out of the way, let’s check out the plush.
Right off the bat I want to say that the anatomy has been rigorously researched and recreated here, although also simplified (or reduced) in some aspects, perhaps due to the constraints of being a plush. Starting with the head, there are three distinct circular shapes present. These are called sclerites. The one on the top of the head represents the dorsal carapace (or H-element), and the two on the sides of the head are the P-elements. The eyes are situated on two short stalks on the side of the head, and while the eyes are depicted in a cartoon style on the plush, the real animal had complex compound eyes. Specimens from the Emu Bay Shale (now assigned to Anomalocaris daleyae, Paterson et al, 2023) have preserved in intricate detail that the eyes have thousands of lenses (Paterson et al, 2011, Paterson et al, 2020). Each of the frontal appendages are separated into parts called podomeres, each with a spiny protrusion on the bottom sides. On the plush it appears they have been divided into a total of five podomeres per appendage, and there is a total of six spines below. On the real animal there are 14 podomeres per appendage, with spines present on each. The first of these spines is not barbed, which has been retained on the plush (spines 11-14 also lack barbs). The three pairs of smaller head flaps are present as well.
On the underside of the head is the oral cone, which is represented by a circle and several lines with a black circle in the center. The oral count has the distinctive triradial plate arrangement, with 3 large plates, surrounded by a number of thinner ones in between. Since the first partial specimen of Anomalocaris canadensis was described in 1985, it was conflated with Peytoia nathorsti (and its synonym, Laggania cambria, which were both named in the same paper by Charles Walcott in 1911). It was long thought that Anomalocaris had the same type of diamond shaped mouth parts as Peytoia since 1985, but a 2012 paper by Daley and Bergström helped to clear up that it did not.
Moving onto the body, there are only six pairs of body flaps on the sides of the body, compared to the 13 present on the real animal (not including the three pairs of head flaps). These flaps would have undulated together to help it swim. Likewise the body also consisted of 13 segments, but the plush here has 10 on the dorsal side, and about 11 on the ventral side. Each of these segments were covered in pairs of setal blades, or gill-like structures, which I believe are represented on the plush in the form of the yellow flaps on the dorsal surface of the body, although they are not divided in the middle, creating rows, like on the real animal. The tail fan has also been included. Both are divided into pairs of three lobes, with the first pair, closest to the body, being the longest. In the middle of the tail fan should be another lobe, which appears to have either been omitted, or simplified at the end of the plush’s body. The plush measures about 18 inches/45.72 cm long, from the tip of the tail fan, and the tip of the frontal appendage, straighten out. The frontal appendage is about 4 inches/10.16 cm long. The body is more or less about 10 inches/25.4 cm, from the back of the head, to the bottom tip near the tail fans. The body is at its widest around the third pair of body flaps, about 8.5 inches/21.59 cm long (including the flaps). The earliest modern size estimate for Anomalocaris put it around 1 meter long (Briggs, 1979), but this was based purely on the fossils of the frontal appendages, which were separated from, and without the body. The complete specimen ROM 51211 measures about 20.5 cm/8.1 inches long (Collins, 1996), including its frontal appendages and tail fan. This would make the plush a little larger then 1:1 scale, when scaled to that specimen. If the frontal appendages of the plush are scaled to a large 18 cm specimen consisting of only of the frontal appendage (Daley and Edgecomb, 2014), it would put the plush around 1:2 scale (or 1:1.8 more specifically). The length of the body should be about twice as long as the frontal appendages. I would say the body is a little bit larger proportionally, but not overly so.
The coloration has been derived from the Blue Swimmer Crab (which is applicable to several species within the genus Portunus, and what a beautiful coloration it is. The main body is of a light blue color, and the segments on the dorsal side have some green applied. The head, body flaps, and tail fan all are colored in several shades of blue, progressing from light to dark. As mentioned earlier the setal blades, or gill-like structures are colored in yellow. The head consists of various shades of blue, including the eye stalks and frontal appendages. The frontal appendages, and eyes also have a touch of purple on them. There’s also a lot of light blue spots on the head, frontal appendages, body segments and flaps. A very eye catching assortment of colors, and with some subtle counter shading present as well.
Overall, while some aspects have been simplified, I find this a very charming plush, though of course I’m naturally biased to it, with Anomalocaris being one of my favorite prehistoric animals. The only way to get your hands on this plush currently is by checking out the From The Shale Plushies Etsy store, or at a few museum shops local to the Eager Formation (Cranbrook History Centre, and Fort Steele Heritage Town). If you simply adore Anomalocaris like I do, I’d certainly recommend getting your hands on this plush while you can. And before I forget, the whole plush does feel pretty solid, and the outer material is like a soft velvet. And for what it is worth, the second planned plush Nelly the Olenellus santuccii, a trilobite common to the Eager Formation, currently has a kickstarter campaign underway (at least at the time of posting this), for those that might be interested.
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