Evolution is a powerful force that causes animals to adapt and simplify down to the purest and most efficient forms they can take. Sometimes, though, it just throws stuff at the wall to see what sticks. We have some weird-looking animals around nowadays like the platypus or the goblin shark, but nothing can hold a candle to the strangeness that was swimming around Earth’s oceans millions of years ago.
And not only are these prehistoric animals completely freaky to look at, a lot of them could have swallowed you whole. Imagine how humiliating it would be to be eaten by something with five eyes and buck teeth. Take a look at these pics and be glad we live in a time where nature has reined it in a little bit.
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Tullimonstrum. 300 million years ago. Scientists still are not sure exactly what the purpose of this animal’s clawed appendage was.
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Typhloesus wellsi. 330 million years ago. Nicknamed the “alien goldfish”, it shot its tongue out of its gut to catch prey.
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Websteroprion. 400 million years ago. A massive carnivorous marine worm that measured up to 6.6 feet in length. It was named after Cannibal Corpse guitarist Alex Webster.
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Saccorhytus. 540 million years ago.
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Tanystropheus hydroides. 242 million years ago. These ancient marine reptiles had extremely long necks attached to awkward little bodies.
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Titanokorys gainesi. 500 million years ago. One of the largest predators of the Cambrian period, it swam across the ocean floor and sucked up prey into its circular mouth.
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Opabinia. 505 million years ago. When paleontologist Harry Blackmore Whittington showed a room of his peers an early reconstruction of Opabinia in 1972, everybody reportedly started laughing.
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Placodonts. Around 200 million years ago. Placodonts were turtle-like marine reptiles with large buck teeth used for eating shells and mollusks.
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Priapulids. 500 million years ago.
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Hallucigenia. 505 million years ago. A completely bizarre-looking creature that prowled the ocean floor during the Cambrian period.
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Helicoprion. 290-225 million years ago. A bizarre species of extinct shark whose lower jaw resembled a buzz saw.
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Lyrarapax. 518 million years ago. One of the first apex predators, Lyrarapax had a claw-shaped appendage on its head to grab prey.
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Diplocaulus. 275 million years ago. An amphibious creature whose fossils were discovered in modern-day Texas.
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Dunkleosteus. 382-358 million years ago. A huge 13-foot predator with bone plate jaws that could cut through prey like blades.
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Habelia optata. 505 million years ago. These aquatic predators were small but deadly, measuring only about 1.6 inches in length.
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Anomalocaris. 500 million years ago. An early apex predator whose name means ‘unusual shrimp’, it could grow up to 6 feet long.
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Archelon. 65 million years ago. A massive 15-foot long sea turtle.
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Basilosaurus. 41 to 33 million years ago. A massive marine predator that resembled a sea serpent.
