8-foot sea scorpions swam the ocean 500M years ago had massive claws to catch prey

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Researchers have discovered that enormous sea scorpions bigger than a human swam the oceans prior to the age of the dinosaurs.

The study, which has been published in Gondwana Research, notes that the sea scorpions lived between 541 and 252 million years ago, during the Paleozoic Era.

Known as Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, the sea scorpions were nearly 8 feet in length and had enormous claws with which they used to catch their prey, according to the study.

NEW ZEALAND 'MONSTER PENGUINS' HAD NORTHERN HEMISPHERE DOPPELGANGERS, RESEARCHERS SAY

The research notes that several other types of sea scorpions (also known as Eurypterids) were discovered, bringing the total to more than 250 species.

"...[F]urther collecting of material—especially the Wilson Creek Shale and the Montys Hut Formation—will uncover more material to aid in understanding the most southern, Gondwanan eurypterids," researchers wrote in the study's abstract.

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Researchers have uncovered several ancient creatures in recent weeks that were significantly larger than their modern-day counterparts.

Gigantic penguins that lived in New Zealand 62 million years ago also had doppelgangers in other parts of the world, including Japan, the U.S. and Canada, according to a new study.

In September 2019, fossils of a 30-foot crocodile-like creature that lived 210 million years ago and ate herbivore dinosaurs and mammals were discovered in southern Africa.

Separately in September 2019, the identity of a massive, 15-foot prehistoric crocodile that lived 180 million years ago was properly identified nearly 250 years after its fossils were first discovered.

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