Wiwaxia Enamel Pin (Wiwaxia corrugata)

Imagine a sea slug that raided a medieval armory, and you’ve basically got Wiwaxia corrugata.

This Cambrian oddball, about 5 cm long, scuttled across seafloors over 500 million years ago, covered in a mosaic of armor-like scales and topped with impressive spines jutting from its back.

Neither mollusk nor worm, but somewhere in between, Wiwaxia confounded paleontologists for decades until it was finally recognized as one of the early evolutionary experiments in body design. It wasn’t flashy, but it was protected—and in the Cambrian, that was half the battle. T

his hard enamel pin captures its armored weirdness in polished metal and enamel—no Burgess Shale field trip required.