Anomalocaris is an anomalocaridid radiodont dinocaridid arthropod from the Cambrian Series 2-3 of Canada and the United States of America. It was named in in 1892 by Joseph Frederick Whiteaves. It was the world's first superpredator, and its separated body parts were confused for being a shrimp, a jellyfish, and a sponge, right before they were combined to form an arthropod.
Physiology[]
Anomalocaris was a unique arthropod. It had a long body, long, fin-like lobes running down the sides of its body, a rounded head with big eyes, spiny arms, and a disk-like mouth, and a round carapace sitting atop its head. Its body would have been covered in a semi-hard, chitinous exoskeleton.
Diet[]
Anomalocaris was a predator, preying on small invertebrates. In one species, Anomalocaris canadensis, the arm spines were short and stout, and may have been used for rupturing the exoskeletons of trilobites, while in another Anomalocaris species, Anomalocaris magnabasis, the arm spines were long and thin, and were used for getting a hold of softer-bodied prey.
Ecology[]
Anomalocaris had the most complex eyes of any Cambrian arthropod, and by extension, the most complex eyes of any arthropod in general (only beaten by dragonflies). As well as this, it had a unique swimming style, propelling itself through the water by undulating the fin-like lobes on its body. One species of Anomalocaris, the aforementioned Anomalocaris canadensis, was able to feed on hard-shelled trilobites due to its short and robust arm spines, and often did so by grabbing them by one end and shaking the other end back and forth, exploiting the weaknesses of their cuticle, and cracking their exoskeleton and allowing it to suck up their innards. This distinguished it from other radiodonts (and even another Anomalocaris species, Anomalocaris magnabasis), which had long and weakly-built arm spines, and thus were more adapted towards feeding on soft-bodied prey like worms.
In popular culture[]
Anomalocaris has appeared in documentaries like Earth: Making of a Planet and Australia: The Time Traveller's Guide, where it commonly introduced by swimming out of the blue and eating a trilobite. So far, one of its biggest public appearances was in the first episode of the 2005 documentary, Walking with Monsters, where a former Chinese ribbon-tailed species, Anomalocaris saron (now classified as an different genus of radiodont), is featured as a predator of the trilobite genus Redlichia (despite not being adapted towards this diet in real life), and shown as fighting rival males for no visible reason. Another of its biggest public appearances was in the second episode of the 2010 documentary, First Life, where the most well-known species, Anomalocaris canadensis, is shown as a ruthless predator, ready to take a bite out of anything it would come across.