The three-eyed creature is Stanleycaris hirpex, a small marine predator from Canada’s Burgess Shale. Royal Ontario Museum researchers reported in 2022 that fossils dating to about 506 million years ago preserve two stalked eyes and an unexpected third eye in the center of its head, along with unusually clear brain and nerve remains.
What was the three-eyed Cambrian creature?
Stanleycaris hirpex was a radiodont: an extinct branch of the arthropod family tree. Its fossils came from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, including rock layers above the Walcott Quarry site in Yoho National Park. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) described the fossils as about 506 million years old in its 2022 announcement.
“Alien-like” is a vivid description, not a scientific classification. The animal’s anatomy is unusual by modern standards, but researchers place it among early arthropods, a broad group that includes living insects, spiders, and crustaceans.
What did its three eyes look like?
ROM’s description identifies two eyes on stalks and a large eye at the front center of the head. The central eye had not previously been recognized in a radiodont, and its presence surprised the researchers. As curator Jean-Bernard Caron put it, “The presence of a huge third eye in Stanleycaris was unexpected.”
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The eye finding comes from fossils rather than a living animal, so it does not establish exactly how the eyes worked or what the creature could see. It does, however, show that this radiodont’s head had a visual feature not captured in earlier interpretations of the group.
How did researchers find brain and nerve remains?
The fossils preserve traces of the nervous system, including a two-part brain connected to different structures. ROM reported that brain and nerve remains were found in 84 fossils. Those specimens came from a previously unpublished collection of 268 Stanleycaris specimens studied by the team; they were primarily collected in the 1980s and 1990s and are held in the museum’s collection.
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- The protocerebrum was associated with the eyes.
- The deutocerebrum was associated with the frontal claws.
The preservation is notable because soft tissues such as nervous-system structures are rarely fossilized. Joseph Moysiuk, the study’s lead author and a University of Toronto PhD candidate based at ROM at the time, said: “While fossilized brains from the Cambrian Period aren’t new, this discovery stands out for the astonishing quality of preservation and the large number of specimens.”
What does the fossil suggest about arthropod evolution?
The researchers interpreted the two-segmented brain as evidence that a two-part head and brain has deep roots in arthropod evolution and likely came before the three-segmented brain characteristic of living arthropods. That is an inference about the early history of the group, not proof that Stanleycaris was a direct ancestor of modern insects, spiders, or other living arthropods.
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- Experience what it's Like to Own an Authentic Prehistoric Mosasaur Tooth Fossil Dated To Be 90 Million Years Old!
- Trilobites, Meaning "Three-Lobed", First Appeared In Our Oceans About 570 Million Years Ago Before Going Extinct around 240 Million Years Ago.
- These Fossils are Hand-Selected with an Average Size of 2.5 Inches; However, Please Allow for small Variations in Size, Shape, & Color.
- Our Trilobite Fossils are Insured with a Money-back Guarantee. The KALIFANO family has been serving customers in the United States since 1912. If for any reason you are not satisfied, we are happy to offer a full value refund. Order with confidence. We guarantee every item we sell. You will receive the same high quality on Amazon that we offer in our retail stores in Las Vegas at The Grand Canal Shoppes @ The Venetian and The Forum Shops @ Caesars Palace.
- Interested in Fossils and Minerals? 💎 Explore The KALIFANO Store Today!
The animal’s fossil anatomy also included a circular mouth lined with teeth, spiny frontal claws, and a flexible segmented body with swimming flaps. These features help explain why ROM described it as a marine predator, while its position on an extinct arthropod branch keeps the evolutionary relationship distinct from that of a direct modern relative.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this the same three-eyed fossil as Kylinxia?
No. Kylinxia zhangi is a separate Cambrian arthropod known from China’s Chengjiang fossil deposits. In a 2023 article, the Natural History Museum described a revised interpretation of Kylinxia from five eyes to three. The two animals are different fossils discussed in separate discoveries:
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| Animal | Fossil locality | Reported finding |
|---|---|---|
| Stanleycaris hirpex | Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada | ROM’s 2022 announcement highlighted a central third eye and preserved brain and nerve remains. |
| Kylinxia zhangi | Chengjiang, China | The Natural History Museum’s 2023 article described a revised interpretation of the animal as having three eyes rather than five. |
The title’s half-billion-year-old, three-eyed creature most closely matches Stanleycaris, the subject of ROM’s 2022 report, rather than Kylinxia.
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