An alien-like creature with protruding spikes that lived more than 500 million years ago was discovered in British Columbia.

The lobopodian, named Entothyreos synnaustrus, was found in an area of Yoho National Park called the Tulip Beds in the Burgess Shale. There have been 10,000 specimens collected from the area since its discovery by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in 1983.

“The Burgess Shale is famous for its exquisite fossils of soft-bodied organisms. It is exceptional to find complete animals preserved, especially ones that had only soft tissues and no mineralized structures,” according to to the Royal Ontario Museum’s webpage about the site.

In a new study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, researchers described the recently identified lobopodian. There have been a total of 51 specimens of this new species recovered to date.