Huge sea scorpion overshadowed humans

The giant fossilised claw of a 2.5m-long (8ft) cannibalistic sea scorpion has been discovered by a European researcher. The creature, known as Jaekelopterus rhenaniae and nicknamed Jake, is thought to have scuttled around planet Earth some 390 million years ago. According to the Beeb, which cites the journal Biology Letters, …

[Anonymous Coward]

The real question is...

Could it decapitate a cow?

[Lloyd]

So

Does this mean that Ray Harryhausen was right when he did those scorpion things that Perseus fought in Clash of the Titans?

[Roger Lee]

Why call it a creepy crawly?

Why is everyone calling this thing a "creepy crawley"?

If I was an 8-foot long scorpion I'd tap-dance into the room smoking a Cuban cigar and singing "Zippity-doo-dah".

Be honest, what's anyone going to do about it?

[Geoff Johnson]

All from one claw.

Estimating the size of the whole animal from one claw seems a bit inaccurate to me.

What would they think if they saw the claw of a fiddler crab.

[Bill Fresher]

@Geoff Johnson

I reckon that in the distant past there was a high prevelance of a condition similar to Proteus syndrome. Lots of little beasts wandered around with overgrown limbs and heads. Scientists find one of these fossilized appendages and then speculate about huge dinosaurs and massive insects.

[Adrian]

Lobsters have claws too!

How different is a scorpions claw to a lobsters claw? might it not be a huge lobster?!

[BossHog]

Finally, they have discovered...

... what scampi is!

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Complete Eurypterid fossils confirm the size

It has been known for quite a while that sea scorpions larger than 2 m existed, in particular Pterygotus, of which a complete fossil of 1.25 m is known. Given this complete fossil, it is hardly rocket science to work out the size if you find just a part.

Isolated body parts indicated lengths of 1.5-1.8 m as fairly ordinary, and above 2 m for large specimens.

See also

http://www.palaeos.com/Invertebrates/Arthropods/Eurypterida/Pterygotina.html

[Doug]

New Database Guardian?

Perhaps we could get that bloke from Jurassic Park to clone the beast so it can be used to guard government databases.

Perhaps a SQL Trigger?

If command$ = SQL.EXPORT then {

release(The_big_beastie_with_the_big_claws);

Do while screaming = TRUE { give_command("kill!Kill!Kill!") } ;

}

I know, I know....its just MY version of pseudo code... :)

[Michael Compton]

You would need a

very big can of bug sprag to get that one.

Its ok i have already left :)

[Anthony]

Cannibalistic

Says who?

It's a giant fossil, surely what it probably ate is a matter of speculation?

btw lol Doug, maybe if they had used one of these as a courier instead of the internal mail then "two compact discs containing names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit numbers, National Insurance numbers and bank or building society account details of some 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families" WOULD NOT "have gone missing" (source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7093757,00.html)

[Joe]

Markus Poschmann?

Joke name. Surely?

Giant cockroaches, flies, spiders? How they would mock us today. How come they got so small since then, then? Must've been a gigantic shrinking machine what done it, most likely made by aliens. The Church of Scientology must've deliberately left that chapter out.

[James Delaney]

@BossHog

Would it be scampi? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scampi

If so, then maybe the claw they've discovered could be considered as a form of Super-Scampi?

[Jonathan Richards]

The real question is...

...does Jake have an extra leg?

[BossHog]

@James Delaney

Mmm.. super scampi! Now the pertinent scientific questions are:

a) "Was it any good?"

b) "Is there any left?"

@Jonathan Richards... heheh! .. coat, surely?

[Anonymous Coward]

New Insect Overlords

Are not as tiny as you thought either.

[Anonymous Coward]

huh?

err, excuse me for a second.....I think I'm on the wrong site.

[Anonymous Coward]

Urgh

These comments are the most pitiful attempts at humour I've ever witnessed.

[Anonymous Coward]

The other real questions is...

...do you get chips with that?

[Rodney Sloan]

Scorpion or Crayfish?

It looks more like a crayfish to me, which would make more sense since the tail looks nothing like that of a scorpion.