Somewhere around 480 million years ago, a fearsome-looking six-foot shrimp scrounged the ocean floors in search of its next meal. But it wasn’t hunting, scientists say. Despite its giant size, the shrimp mostly scrounged for plankton and other small creatures, filter feeding as it went along. Basically, the enormous Aegirocassis benmoulae was the arthropod version of the baleen whale or whale shark, an animal that feeds on a surprisingly timid diet despite its giant size. Like the whale shark, it came from a group of creatures known for their fearsomeness. In the case of A. Benmoulae, that would be the anomalocaridids, a group sometimes called the “uncontested top predators of their time.” They were at the top of the ocean food chain back in Cambrian times. Media Platforms Design TeamNothing lasts forever, though. A. benmoulae would have benefited from an overabundance of plankton, yet it was the last of its kind, perhaps owing to competition from other beasts in the early Ordovician period.Source: DiscoverJohn WenzWriterJohn Wenz is a Popular Mechanics writer and space obsessive based in Philadelphia. He tweets @johnwenz.
