A shrimp-like animal that paddled around the ocean hundreds of millions of years ago peered through the water with five eyes mounted on stalks. But that wasn't even the weirdest thing about it, researchers recently discovered.
Those stalks supported compound eyes, mounted on a semi-circular fused head shield; the tiny sea beast also had an articulated upper body, 15 jointed and spine-tipped limbs, and large, upward-curving "arms" that were likely used to snap up prey.
Some of these features are known separately from fossils of other ancient arthropods, the invertebrate group with exoskeletons, segmented bodies and jointed legs. But this oddball creature is also a chimera — possessing features from multiple animals.
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