An eye-opening fossil

[Tank]

An eye-opening fossil

Armed with barbed grasping claws and a mouth full of tooth-like serrations, anomalocaridids are thought to have been the top predators in the Cambrian oceans about 500 million years ago. A cache of spectacular fossils now suggests that the ancient hunter Anomalocaris had compound eyes that gave it keener vision than many of the modern arthropods related to it.

Previous fossils have raised the possibility that it had compound eyes, but none of them has had enough surface detail to confirm this. Palaeontologist John Paterson at the University of New England in Australia, and his colleagues have now done so by studying fossils discovered in the Emu Bay Shale in South Australia. They found that thousands of tiny hardened lenses definitely made up each eye, much as they make up the eyes of modern insects and crustaceans. The fossil is described today in Nature...

This is one amazing creature.

[Buddy]

That's really cool. I wonder what it ate if it needed those barbs.

[OldGit]

No it didn't - that's why it gradually shed them as it evolved into Asmo.

[Asmodean]

No it didn't - that's why it gradually shed them as it evolved into Asmo.

Yes. The Asmo even begins with the same letter as the anomalocaris.

In media section, I have linked to Sir Attenborough's First Life documentary. He mentions anomalocaris there and how the scientists initially considered a claw to be some strange shrimp (hence the name)

Anomalocaris is also featured in Walking with Monsters, although somewhat incorrectly.

[Tank]

That's really cool. I wonder what it ate if it needed those barbs.

That's an interesting question. When first found this creature was identified as two separate organisms. A worm like creature (the feeding limbs) and the circular mouth parts of a different creature. It wasn't until a specimine was discovered where the limbs, mouthparts, eyes and body were connected that the mistake was realised.

If you haven't seen 'First Life' by David Attenborough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyC-CSvCOo you really, really must. It is an excellent introduction to evolution of the early life forms that went on to define all the different types we know see.

[Asmodean]

Wasn't there some connection between Old Git and the Charnia..? I seem to remember something about that... 

In any case, charnia is also featured in First Life. A fascinating documentary indeed.

[OldGit]

That was a friend of mine, oh Asmodicious One.

[Asmodean]

That was a friend of mine, oh Asmodicious One.

YES! That was it! 

Fascinating... What are they, really..? The Charnias..? First Life is slightly vague on that - are they plant, animal, 'shroom..?

[Tank]

Wasn't there some connection between Old Git and the Charnia..? I seem to remember something about that... 

In any case, charnia is also featured in First Life. A fascinating documentary indeed.

There most definitely is! His mate found it! OG has a yummy mummy fan know, a friend of mine who lives in Leicester who is obsessed with fossils, so OG fits the bill on two levels.  

[Tank]

That was a friend of mine, oh Asmodicious One.

YES! That was it! 

Fascinating... What are they, really..? The Charnias..? First Life is slightly vague on that - are they plant, animal, 'shroom..?

It's not know exactly what they are.

[Asmodean]

It's not know exactly what they are.

...Which is cool. They were alive, and yet we aren't quite sure what variety of "alive" they were.

[Buddy]

That's really cool. I wonder what it ate if it needed those barbs.

That's an interesting question. When first found this creature was identified as two separate organisms. A worm like creature (the feeding limbs) and the circular mouth parts of a different creature. It wasn't until a specimine was discovered where the limbs, mouthparts, eyes and body were connected that the mistake was realised.

If you haven't seen 'First Life' by David Attenborough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyC-CSvCOo you really, really must. It is an excellent introduction to evolution of the early life forms that went on to define all the different types we know see.

Thanks, I'll look at that as soon as I get home.

I feel like if most life was simple back then, mostly mollusks and ocean buggies, then the pincers might be used to grip and tear the shell/ exoskeleton. Almost like today's invertebrates, like crabs. It would expose the soft meat that the anomalocaridids could then chow down on.

[Tank]

That's really cool. I wonder what it ate if it needed those barbs.

That's an interesting question. When first found this creature was identified as two separate organisms. A worm like creature (the feeding limbs) and the circular mouth parts of a different creature. It wasn't until a specimine was discovered where the limbs, mouthparts, eyes and body were connected that the mistake was realised.

If you haven't seen 'First Life' by David Attenborough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyC-CSvCOo you really, really must. It is an excellent introduction to evolution of the early life forms that went on to define all the different types we know see.

Thanks, I'll look at that as soon as I get home.

I feel like if most life was simple back then, mostly mollusks and ocean buggies, then the pincers might be used to grip and tear the shell/ exoskeleton. Almost like today's invertebrates, like crabs. It would expose the soft meat that the anomalocaridids could then chow down on.

That is the current speculation based on the fossils found.

[Asmodean]

That is the current speculation based on the fossils found.

In First Life, Attenborough also compares anomalocaris to the mantis shrimp, an organism living today. It hunts relatively small pray compared to its size and is an ambush predator, relying on superior strength, speed and senses to overpower the unsuspecting fish.

[Tank]

That is the current speculation based on the fossils found.

In First Life, Attenborough also compares anomalocaris to the mantis shrimp, an organism living today. It hunts relatively small pray compared to its size and is an ambush predator, relying on superior strength, speed and senses to overpower the unsuspecting fish.

Not personally totally convinced by the argument given the spines on the inside of the limbs. But without a fossil where the prey is obvious speculation is the best we can do.