Previous knowledge has led us to believe that a carnivorous shrimp was one of the first prehistoric rulers of the sea. However, recent discoveries challenge that theory.
It had been hypothesized that the giant shrimp, Anomalocaris, fed on trilobites and other critters that were protected by hard, indigestible exoskeletons. However, paleontologist James Hagadorn of the Denver Museum of Nature & ScienceFossil records has recently shown that the mouth apparatus of the shrimp is soft and bendable. This would prevent the shrimp from cracking the hard shells of the trilobites, making it impossible to feed on such critters. Hagadorn also discovered that there was not evidence of crustaceans in Anomalocaris's fossilized feces. "What's more, there is no evidence of trilobite parts in the gullets of any known Anomalocaris fossil."
Is it possible that what we previous thought about this this giant "predator" is incorrect? And if so, what was causing the damage to the trilobites if not the Anomalocaris?
Hagadorn presented his findings today at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver.
Jen Kodela
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