An Ancient Sea Monster

Sea monsters are the stuff of legends, though the search for giant squids continues to fascinate deep sea researchers today.

Now comes word of the discovery of a true marine monster -- in fossil form. In a German quarry, British researchers have found the claw of an ancient sea scorpion that would have been eight feet long. That makes it the largest arthropod ever discovered.

The BBC has the full story, along with a very cool computer animation of the 390 million-year-old sea scorpion in action as it "(makes) mincemeat" out of a prey item, in the words of paleontologist Simon Braddy of the University of Bristol, lead investigator on the  project.

Sea scorpions have been extinct for some 250 million years, and their modern ancestors are tiny by comparison.

While scientists don't expect to find giant sea scorpions in the ocean today, they do anticipate discovering millions of still unknown species as they continue to study the oceans. Documenting those species is one objective of the global Census of Marine Life now under way.