Paleobiota of the Burgess Shale

This is a list of the biota of the Burgess Shale, a Cambrian lagerstätte located in Yoho National Park in Canada.

During the Cambrian, the ecosystem of the Burgess Shale sat under 100 to 300 metres (330 to 1000 feet) of water at the base of a submarine canyon known as the Cathedral Escarpment, which today is a part of the Canadian Rockies.

[1][2][3][4][5] Crown-group arthropods (euarthropods such as trilobites) and their stem-group relatives (such as radiodonts) are extremely diverse and some species are abundant in the Burgess Shale.

[1][8] Crown-group and stem-group Ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, are moderately common in the shale, with five genera known from the site.

The molluscs of the Burgess shale are diverse in body shapes, the ecological niches they filled, and their enigmatic qualities.

[20] Gnathifera An extinct group of enigmatic sponge-like animals covered in hollow spines Cyanobacteria are photosynthesizers, and would have been important in the shale.

Outcrop of the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, Canada.
Restoration of the nektonic environment of the site, showing a pair of Anomalocaris canadensis hunting a school of Isoxys acutangulus .
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Reconstruction of Ogygopsis klotzi in the Burgess Shale
Reconstruction of Ogygopsis klotzi in the Burgess Shale
Animation of O. cribratus showing its purported anchored position and frontal lobopods for suspension feeding