Metaspriggina walcotti is a primitive fish of the Middle Cambrian, considered to be a transitional form between primitive chordates and the earliest vertebrates ³⁾.

Metaspriggina is a combination of the Greek word "meta" meaning "later times" and "sprigina" from a similar organism Spriggina of the Ediacara biota (Currently, it is known that there is no relation between two. As a side note, Spriggina is namded after Red Sprigg, who discovered the Ediacara biota) ³⁾. Needless to say, a specific name walcotti is derived from Charles D. Walcott, who discovered the Burgess Shale ³⁾.

Metaspriggina is appriximately 6 cm in length and has a W-shaped pattern on its body that appears to be a myomere ²⁾. No fins are found ²⁾. The structures that are presumed to be a notochord and a gut are found, and a anul opening is on the posterior ventral margin (a post-anal tail) ²⁾. The head is divided by a shallow notch into small bilobed with eyes ²⁾. On the ventral side of anterior half, there is a branchial area with seven pairs of bar-structures, which are thought to be part of the bones of branchial arch, but no gill-openings have been found ²⁾.

There is a possiblity that Metaspriggina was swimming near the seafloor and fed on microoranisms by using gills just like gill rakers ²⁾.

Metaspriggina is considered to be placed to the vertebrate stem and close to Haikouichthys and Myllokunmingia of the Chengjang Biota ²⁾.