Case file · Cryptid
Bathybius haeckelii, the 'primordial slime'
In 1868 Thomas Henry Huxley described a jelly-like substance in mud dredged from the North Atlantic floor as a primitive living ooze covering the deep sea, and named it after Ernst Haeckel.
1868 CE · 52.00, -30.00 · status: explained
The account
The mud came from soundings for the transatlantic telegraph cable. Bathybius was hailed as a link between living and non-living matter.
The sceptical view
Chemists on the Challenger expedition showed in 1875 that it was calcium sulphate precipitated when the mud was preserved in alcohol. Huxley admitted the mistake.