In prehistoric times, there lived this creature named the Pentecopterus in the ocean. It was nearly six feet long, with a long head, a narrow body and large limbs that helped it to grasp preys. It was a part of the eurypterid family, a bloodline of ancient creatures which are ancestors of spiders, lobsters and ticks.
The scientists have reportedly said Pentecopterus, which is named after a Greek warship, was one of the oldest sea scorpions.
“Pentecopterus is large and predatory, and eurypterids must have been important predators in these early Palaeozoic ecosystems,” said James Lamsdell who is a researcher at Yale University, and also the lead author of a study about the creature.
These sea scorpions lived 467 million years ago but were discovered in 2010, in a fossil bed by the Upper lowa Rover, the tributary of Mississippi as reported by CNN .
Geologists of the Iowa Geological Survey at the University of Iowa discovered them in a meteorite carter. Scientists of Yale are assisting them to analyze it. To know more about their study click here .
