Soft-bodied organism

The term typically refers to non-panarthropod invertebrates from the kingdom Animalia, although many non-vascular plants (mosses and algae), fungi (such as jelly fungus), lichens and slime molds can also be seen as soft-bodied organisms by definition.

Such physical structures are the commonly referred "skeletons",[1] which may be internal (as in vertebrates, echinoderms and sponges) or external (as in arthropods and non-coleoid molluscs).

The heaviest soft-bodied organisms are likely the giant squids, with maximum weight estimated at 275 kilograms (606 lb) for females, while arctic lion's mane jellyfish may reach comparable sizes.

[6][7] The longest animal on record is also thought to be a soft-bodied organism, a 55 metres (180 ft) long thread-like bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus found on a Scottish beach 1864.

[11] Today, several sites with Burgess Shale type preservation are known, but the history of many groups of soft-bodied animals is still poorly understood.

A terrestrial ribbon worm
The exceptional Burgess shale site preserve soft-bodied organisms like these priapulids .
Like the Burgess Shale, the Waukesha Biota , from the Silurian of Wisconsin , preserves many soft-bodied organisms, such as this cycloneuralian worm. [ 10 ]
Examples of gaps within the fossil record of delicate and soft-bodied animals display numerous discontinuities of 150 Myr and more