Cambrian

  

E X P L O S I O N     O F     L I F E     F O R M S

 The explosion lasted ten to twenty million years,

a mere moment in geologic time.  The planet's 

oceans transitioned from pea soup to a true 

marine habitat, populated with numerous

and varied, imaginative life forms.

E A R L Y     A R T H R O P O D

 Looks like a cartoon animator's daydream.

It's head is an eyespot atop a tentacle.

This line of engineering leads to segmented

body parts, protective hard tissue and jointed

appendages.  Their line of body design is

represented today as crabs, spiders 

and insects.

T  R  I  L  O  B  I  T  E

 One of the most successful of the creatures that

first appeared in the early Cambrian.  Their hard

body parts made for making blue ribbon fossils.

Most every marine habitat on the planet revealed

their diversity and their ability to adapt to changing

circumstance.  Their menu options included 

anything edible.  

After dominating the planet for nearly 300 million

years. this entire category of animal was wiped out

by a catastrophe named the Permian Mass Extinction.

Once again, Nature plays 52 Card Pickup with

the deck.

E A R L Y     C A M B R I A N

From the folks that have provided us with crab, lobster

and shrimp dinners comes this most ancient predator,

worthy of portraying a nightmare under a child's bed.

It didn't take long before a dispassionate genetic code

solved the dietary problem by providing a pair of arms

with long, nasty spikes to hold you in place while

Gladys here nibbles you to death.

M  O  L  L  U  S  K

Ancestors to squid and octopus - the wizards of

the invertebrate world.  They sport a couple of

primitive eyes and up to ten tentacles to nab 

their prey.  There is an advanced nervous system

to coordinate all the state of the art biological

technologies this nautilus carries to rule the roost

400,000,000 million years ago.

 

C  U  T  T  L  E  F  I  S  H

 This curious contrivance is not a fish but a mollusk,

related to squids and octopus.  It is one of a kind,

having three hearts and a copper-based blood system.

Cuttlefish have the ability to change their color pattern

to match that of the surrounding landscape in a 

matter of seconds.  They disappear from view

in this most amazing display of camouflage.

It appears almost gentle, like a homely 

old man sitting on a park bench feeding 

the squirrels.  But this is a cunning carnivore

with a murderous heart, its predatory tentacles

discretely tucked from view.

You best keep moving.

*   *   *   *   * 

©  Tom Taylor

 OVER   EASY

  

 

coldValentine