A small crab with big eyes
Colombia: An ancient and extinct crab has been discovered to have extraordinarily large eyes, which may have enabled it to see far and easily hunt.
Fossils of this crab were discovered in 2019 from separate locations in the US states of Columbia and Wyoming, and analysis showed that they are approximately 95 million years old.
The fossils were only about an inch (2.4 cm) in size, but apparently they were tiny crabs that were scientifically named Callichimaera perplexa.
From day one, experts were amazed at the remnants of eye-like protrusions on the heads of these fossils.
Further research revealed that these bumps were actually the ‘mixed eyes’ of these crabs. This means that like flies, each eye of these crabs was made up of dozens and hundreds of tiny eyes.
In addition, these eyes were not enclosed in a protective casing, but hung out of the crab’s body.
When compared with the eyes of ancient and modern crabs, it was revealed that the eyes of these extinct crabs were 16% in size.
In contrast, other types of crabs have only 1 to 3% of their total size in their eyes.
In other words, we can say that the eyes of Kalchimaira perplexa would have been 5 to 16 times bigger than all the other crabs.
Other physical features of the crab include curved claws, parts of the mouth that resemble legs, an open tail, and an oblong body.
Due to its unusually large eyes, scientists believe that this extinct crab was probably a skilled hunter who could see its prey from afar and was perhaps able to hunt aquatic animals larger than itself.
