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518 Million Years Ago, the Biggest, Baddest Predators Were… Worms?

Beware the biggest predator of the Cambrian oceans: an arrow worm with a massive, arthropod-munching maw.

By Sam Walters
Jan 9, 2024 5:50 PMJan 9, 2024 5:52 PM
A reconstruction of the pelagic ecosystem and the organisms fossilised in Sirius Passet, revealing how Timorebestia was one of the largest predators in the water column more than 518 million years ago
Fossils from the Sirius Passet fossil locale suggest that the Timorebestia arrow worms were among the fierest predators of the open ocean, 518 million years ago. (Credit: Artwork by Bob Nicholls/@BobNichollsArt)

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Sharks and seals weren’t always the top predators of the oceans. Approximately 518 million years ago, that title went to none other than worms.

According to a new study in Science Advances, a team of researchers recently found the fossils of a previously unknown worm from around 518 million years ago. Terrorizing the oceans around northern Greenland, these fossils were some of the Cambrian’s fiercest, free-swimming predators, representing a long-lost arrow worm, forgotten with the passage of time.


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