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danieljoelnewman — Week 16 - Anomaloshark
Published: 2009-04-17 15:38:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 8967; Favourites: 238; Downloads: 148
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Description
Still riding this Burgess-Shale vibe, I was inspired by Gould's idea of replaying the tape of life.In this photoshopped sketch, I wanted to see what would happen if an Anomalocarid continued to evolve into a dolphin/ichthyosaur/shark pelagic form. I wasn't sure how efficient the anomalocarid's multi-paddle/undulating/cuddle-fish-esque mode of propulsion would fair at larger sizes, so I reduced all but a few main paddles. Let me know what you think.
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Comments: 26
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I think you under played the paddles. It be a bit like a ray or skate now a days in movement.
Either way though it's a incredible drawing! your sir are talented and imaginative.
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Oh wow, awesome!
Heh-- neat to know I'm not the only one doing speculative anomalocarids.
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I certainly wouldn't want to go swimming if I saw one of those in the water. By the way, great drawing!
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Are you familiar with Schinderhannes? It was an anomalocarid that lived during the Devonian period, 100 million years later than any other known species, and had a greatly reduced number of paddles just like your Anomaloshark - only two, actually, rather like a penguin in shape. You should look it up.
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Yup, I actually read the original publication a while back. It's very interesting to see how the anomalocaridid body form transformed across time.
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damn! I was just about to mention how your speculation had a close match in the fossil record! it's an amazing piece of work!
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Awesome Concept!!
Can you draw us a Cuddle-fish sometime too
May the Emperor Guide your Hands
Minmi
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There was a new anomalocarid discovered in Germany that looked much like this creature.
[link]
It given the name Schinderhannes (stupid name I think 
That means not only that they survived the end of the cambrium, they also evolved in a similar way than you suggested.
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Wow. I've seen this guy before, but I had no idea he was Devonian.
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Quite an interesting post-anomalocarid! May I suggest you make an anomalocarid that is like a sea turtle?
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hmmm...that could be cool. Maybe some sort of massive, beaked, cnidarian muncher of some sort...
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Looks like something that would be living in our oceans...
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Nice, that's what I was hoping to achieve
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Cool. I think at larger sizes, it would make sense for an anamolocarid to undulate like a dolphin. Also, the great appendages would have to be retractable to minimize drag (maybe they slot into grooves on the head?). Or perhaps the great appendages fuse into something like the mouthparts of a dragonfly larva or an extensible tube like the jaws of a teleost fish.
some ideas
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Freakin' awesome...An awesome freak. The multiple paddles on a segmented body remind me of the Con Rit, the Vietnamese "sea centipede" cryptid ([link] ).
I'd love to see you do an entire world along these lines.
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I love the way you did the water and submarine illumination of the body. My question is did the eyes recede into the head?
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I could see them retracting into the head for purposes of streamlining, then popping up like periscopes when it buries itself in the sand, carpet-shark style, to ambush prey!
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oh, the possiblilties!
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