Paleodictyon

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Paleodictyon nodosum appeared as a compact, regular pattern of small circular openings on the seafloor, each pattern interpreted as reflecting the activity of an individual organism. The pattern imaged comprises three equidistant sets of rows of black dots in the sediment, inferred to be holes at that time, that intersect at angles of 120°.

Each set of rows parallels two sides of the bounding equilateral triangle to produce an overall hexagonal outline encompassing a network of hexagonal cells. Thousands of the patterns, typically several per m2, were imaged in an area 3 km along the ridge axis (NE-SW) by 2 km across the axis (NW-SE) at water depths of 3200–3600 m.

Paleodictyon nodosum may be a trap for food, a mechanism for farming, or a foraging path.

Observations on Paleodictyon using Euler graph theory suggest that it cannot be an excavation trace fossil and that it must therefore be an imprint, body fossil, or be of abiotic origin. Although scientists have collected many of the burrows of Paleodictyon nodosum, they have never seen a live one. What a live specimen would look like is widely debated, with the debate being split into two main sides.

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The modern burrows were found around mid-ocean ridge systems in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Although scientists have collected many of the burrows of Paleodictyon nodosum, they have never seen a live one. These burrows were found in very similar conditions as the ones found along the Galapagos Rift. The biggest similarity between the habitats of all Paleodictyon nodosum is that they are all found along divergent plate boundaries at both active and extinct hydrothermal vents.

• Movement Pattern: Not a Migrant

• Individual Type: Single Colony

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: ???

• Locomotion: Aquatic

• Habitat: Abyssal Zone; Hadal Zone; Hydrothermal Vent; Brine Pool; Cold Seep; Demersal Zone.

• Earth: 

  • Extant: ???

Paleodictyon nodosum are not entity!

In the 1950s, Paleodictyon nodosum fossils were first discovered in Spanish cliffs. Since then, they have been found in Wales as well as other parts of Europe. They are typically discovered in Eocene flysch deposits. However, at higher strata (i.e., later in geological time), their burrows become much more regular and exact. The oldest fossils reveal far less consistently hexagonal tunnels.

Coming soon

• Paleodictyons are not considered real creatures; they can't be carved or die, and they are not described in the Bestiary.

• Paleodictyon is sacrificed by the bursting of ocean floor during a mud-storm event.

• Paledictyons are unharvestable.

• Paleodictyon is an illusionistic animal, viewing the dots as hexagonal 'lines'.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleodictyon

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleodictyon_nodosum

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Paleodictyon-nodosum-882134446

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0967064509001799

• https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/science/25fossil.html

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-017-0636-0

• https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=209302