New discovery about sea scorpions

Scientists once believed that arthropods called pterygotid eurypterids are preeminent predators in shallow waters.

Marine scorpions are also considered to be the largest arthropods compared to other relatives of the same family, including today's lobsters. The size of the average sea scorpion is like a tennis racket and the body is 2m long, equipped with sharp claws.

A scientist at Yale University embraces an ancient marine scorpion model - (Photo: Yale News)

However, new evidence that marine scorpions are not so scary because their eyesight is quite bad.

In recent studies, archaeologists at Yale University have reviewed the eyes of many marine scorpions and concluded that this ancient creature has poor eyesight. Its eye layers are similar to the eyes of today's horseshoe crabs. This ability is only enough to help him look around the sea at night to find sick prey.

This finding is detailed in the latest issue of Biology Letters.

UPI news agency quoted Derek Briggs, a paleontologist at Yale University, co-author of the study, explaining predatory marine scorpions but the concept imagines that it can re-feed anything. which it can eat is exaggerated.

Besides the poor eyesight, the researchers also said that although the scorpion of the sea scorpion looks fierce, it is controlled by a muscle that is not strong enough to attack hard-shell prey. which can only catch molluscs enough for chopping force.