Loss of face

Paleontologists have revealed the bizarre features of a sea moth predator based on its fossil found in Canada’s famous Burgess Shale deposit in 2022.

The researchers from the Manitoba Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) shared their findings on the creature that lived over 500 million years ago in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The Mosura fentoni, about the size of a human index finger, had sharp spiny claws, a circular mouth ringed with teeth, rows of flaps along its sides that likely helped it swim, and three eyes, scitechdaily.com reports.

Its internal anatomy was also visible, including traces of nerves in the eyes that would have processed images, said study co-author Jean-Bernard Caron, curator of invertebrate paleontology at ROM, according to scitechdaily.com.

If prehistoric looks can awe scientists, the lack of it also astonishes.

Raziel Doctor-Sercado of Barangay San Simon in Bani, Pangasinan shared with a TV news outlet a photo of his two-year-old aspin’s litter last week.

The dog named Luna gave birth for the first time to six pups, one of which shocked Doctor-Sercado.

“I was surprised because it had no face,” he told GMA News.

A video of the faceless puppy showed it had no eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, though its other body parts were there. The five other pups were all physically normal.

The puppy without a face lived only for three hours, according to GMA News.

Veterinarian Dr. John Mark Gassingga explained that the faceless pup suffered from a congenital defect linked to the lack of nutrition of the mother dog during its pregnancy, GMA News reports.