Anomalocaris-Wussy of the deep?

A new look at the Cambrian predator.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101103-giant-shrimp-sea-preda...

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Anomalocaris
• Wussy
• of
• the
• deep

[chobochotch]

Interesting.

However the big eyes which seem to be able to see in all directions would say otherwise. Animals with eyes like that either are predators themselves or use the eyes to escape from predators, what sort of organism was around that was big enough to take on anomolacarus?

[tyrantslayer24]

@chobochotch You'r right. Unless we find an animal larger and more aggressive then Anomalocaris, the eyes will always suggest it was a predator.

[RokuroCarisu]

@tyrantslayer24 They found one - more or less. In Australia, parts of an Anomalocaris grasp were found that, judging form their size, belonged to 6 ft long specimen. And the only suitable prey for such a big predator in the Cambrian era would have been smaller Anomalocaris.

[tyrantslayer24]

@RokuroCarisu Intresting, do you know where I could read more about it?

[RokuroCarisu]

@Piatnitskysaurus Hmm. A pineapple ring is usually 10 - 15 cm wide. The mouth of an average 60 cm Anomalocaris is about 5 cm wide. That means the body of this one would have been around 1.8 m (6 ft) in length.

[Piatnitskysaurus]

The average prey of anomalocaris probably was wider than the diameter of its "closed" mouth, so the fact that it couldn't close its mouth is moot. Its raptorial appendages and giant eyes, its fast locomotory apparatus and steering tail, all suggest a predator. Also, perhaps the mouthparts were too hard to easily break, it was a primitive arthropod, so it had some kind of exoskeleton. Also, it may have shed its mouth segments regularly and grown them back, just like a lobster sheds its shell.

[Piatnitskysaurus]

@RokuroCarisu - There is an undescribed mouth ring from an even larger one, not anomalocaris, but the diameter suggests it was as large as a large dolphin or even a large shark. It will probably be years before it is described, but the ring was as large as the diameter of a big pineapple-ring.

[RokuroCarisu]

@tyrantslayer24 On many websites, but there's not much valuable information about it. The species isn't even named yet. Oh, and I have to correct myself: It was found in China.

The one from Australia was A. briggsi; possibly more of a planktivorous Laggania species than an Anomalocaris. But that's hard to tell since the body wasn't found.

[RokuroCarisu]

There were also trilobit fossils found with bitemarks that fit an everage anomalocaris' mouth.

[Breniznit]

@tyrantslayer24 I got an example of what i mean by suction vs bite @ /watch?v=RD_vmQksS8U 

[Breniznit]

@tyrantslayer24 It looks like a plankton eater.. It probably was a predator, just small animals like shrimp and plankton.Having said that it may well be a predator, you don't need too shut your mouth completely too swallow other animals (If it fits in your mouth and down your throat,it's dead). A lot of modern day fish prefer too swallow things using suction rather then bite them.

[Albukhshi]

I'm not surprised about the contents being "preserved": the animals living at the time were buried in an anoxic environment, and in clay and mud-good for preservation.

anyways: all I ask in this case, is to find the predator, of a similar sized mouth apparatus, that could have crunch on some trilobite fossils that ave been found; those in question had what you'd expect if an anomolocarid had the victims for food. otherwise, the evidence is pretty good.