TORONTO – Stanleycaris hirpex lived in the Cambrian Period about 500 million years ago, was the first known three-eyed predator among arthropods. Stanleycaris hirpex has two protruding eyes on the sides of its head and larger eyes in the middle.
Researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada, recently announced the discovery of the strange animal’s fossil as part of an amazing treasure trove. The newly discovered 506 million-year-old fossil of the strange creature is very complete, starting with the preserved brain, nervous system and third eye.
“It’s kind of interesting that when we look at the evolution of the first predators, we also see the evolution of complex sensory systems. Where we see a different eye, it may perform a different task for this organism,” said Joseph Moysiuk of the University of Toronto in Canada.
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Three-eyed animals with wing-like fins once swam through shallow seas, using their heightened visual perception to hunt smaller marine animals. Stanleycaris hirpex is about the size of a human hand and has two protruding eyes with hundreds of lenses on each side of its head, plus a much larger third eye in the middle.
“Living among finger-sized animals, it probably used its sophisticated visual system to pursue fast-moving prey,” said Joseph Moysiuk who investigated hundreds of excellently preserved S. hirpex fossils excavated from the Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia.
There were about 268 specimens studied, even having intact soft tissues, including brain, nerves, and reflective material in their visual system. The animals have 17 body segments, two pairs of stiff blades in the lower third of their bodies and spiked claws that may sweep prey right into their toothed jaws.
“It is quite a ferocious animal. Their eyes were shining. That’s been obvious since we first saw organisms that have three eyes,” Moysiuk said.
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Moysiuk thinks a large middle eye combined with two lateral eyes may have been a common form of early invertebrates, before developing into two or more paired eyes in later species. For example, the 520-million-year-old Lyrarapax, which belongs to the same group of early arthropods called radioodonts, had a similar structure on its forehead that might have been eyes.
“These new findings add to the generally odd physical profile of radioodonts. Radiodons often have a pair of eyes protruding from their stalks and long, oddly shaped appendages,” said Moysiuk.
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