The Paleozoic Era

         The Paleozoic Era

                     The climate of the Paleozoic era was warm and growing warmer as the period went on. Underwater life thrived for about 300 million years. The Paleozoic era ran from about 542 million years ago to 251 million years ago.

            Trilobites have a filter for mud so they can get food from the mud. It was one of the first arthropods. It came into existence about 450 million years ago. It has a exoskeleton so it has protection from predators.

             A Megalodon can have teeth to about 7 inches long. A Megalodon can weigh up to about 48 tons. A Megalodon can be as long as 80 to 100 feet long. It can be bigger than 7 large elephants weighing 7 tons each.

               A Bothriolepis would glide along the ocean floor. It had an armored box like construction to its body with a softer more usual fish tail towards the back. It had fins like blades which were jointed both at their base and about half way along their base. They were one of the most successful placoderms ever to exist.

         The Dunkleosteus is known for its fierce carnivorous behavior. It can open its jaws so fast that it creates a vacuum that sucks the water and prey that was swimming into its mouth. It could rip through anything that came at it. Along with the equally giant Titanichthys, the Dunkleosteus is one of the largest placoderm fish ever known in the fossil record.

        The Anomalocaridids were the largest animals around in the Cambrian Period. These marine predators grew up to be about feet long. They had long spiny head limbs and a circlet of plates around the mouth. It had a series of blade like filaments in each segment across the animal’s back. It also had an exoskeleton to protect it from predators.

        The horn coral is known for its shape as a horn. It has many different names such as Amplexus yandelli and Brothlupyllum zaphrentiforme. Another plant is the crinoid. It has three basic sections, the stem, the calyx, and arms.