Anomalocaridid, Ancient Giant Shrimp - Fossils of shrimp-like predator with a length of 1 meter is found in southeast Morocco. The animal has the largest size in its kind and is expected to dominate the seas in pre-dinosaurs for millions of years.

Animals called Anomalocaridid ​​it like shrimp and cuttlefish. One prominent part in his head and circular. Covered their mouths and opens and closes like a camera diaphragm.

Anomalocaridid ​​before finding the largest, measuring 0.6 meters. Size as that alone makes it the largest animal in the Cambrian period (542 to 501 million years ago), as invertebrates evolved into many different things.

Besides size, another thing is striking about this discovery is a relatively young age of the fossil, estimated age of 488 to 472 years ago. "This animal turned out to live 30 years longer than expected," says Derek Briggs, Director of the Yale Peabody Museum, who participated in the study.

Anomalocaridid ​​spread widely during the Cambrian period, but begin not found in the era 510 million years ago. "What they are extinct or are we looking in the wrong place?" Briggs says can not answer the mystery. Apparently, the soft tissue is damaged before the fossil is formed. Especially for the fossils found in Morocco, the scientists are lucky because the sediment around it makes the animal preserved.

Anomalocaridid ​​ultimately did not result in extinction and modern descendants. "Replaced fish and other marine predators," said Briggs explained.