Functional morphology of the Ediacaran organism Tribrachidium heraldicum

Tribrachidium heraldicum is among the first large and structurally complex animals, appearing in the fossil record 550 million years ago. By using engineering software to simulate fluid flow around digital models of this organism we recreate details of how it lived, including how it fed and the likely functions of its bizarre anatomy.

Methods
All .java files are generated from COMSOL Multiphysics 6.2. Once simulations were completed, meshes were cleared, and simulations were exported to .java. Relavent Tribrachidium reconstruction files are saved as STEP shape files.  Remaining data are from coupled OpenFOAM and LIGGGTS simulations using the stl shape file. These datasets can be viewed using ParaView. Text editor .docx document hosts supplemental figures from the main text.