Eurypterid

Trilobites, those iconic arthropods that had survived every previous mass extinction for two hundred and seventy million years, disappeared forever.

Eurypterids, the massive sea scorpions that had been apex predators for hundreds of millions of years, gone.

Blastoids, crinoids, brachiopods, all suffered extinction rates above ninety percent.

But some numbers hide as much as they reveal.

This meant that Tiktaalik was the oldest known fish that possessed a neck, with the pectoral belt separated from the skull.

Eurypterids were 8-foot-long marine scorpions, approximately 2.44 meters, that dominated the oceans 390 million years ago.

These huge arthropods were the largest creatures of their time and the super predators of their aquatic environments.

The Eurypterids hunted anything they could capture using huge claws that were technically mouthpieces and could reach up to 45.72 cm in length or a foot and a half.

When a Eurypterid extended completely those mouth claws, the largest specimens could reach lengths close to 3.35 meters or 11 feet.

These creatures dominated the seas for millions of years, creating a reign of terror for any small prey that had the misfortune of sharing its habitat.

Compared to modern scorpions, Eurypterids were genuinely alien because of their proportions and power.

They represent a completely different era of marine life, when the arthropods could grow up to monstrous sizes without any real competition.

Trilobites.

We got a bunch of weird, weird little buddies, like our Eurypterids.

Oh, yeah.

We got Anomalocaris, Wilwixia, all those.