Eurypterus remipes
Silurian eurypterid
Eurypterids are an extinct group of arthropods; their closest living relatives are probably horseshoe crabs. Though known by the name ’sea scorpions,’ they were not actually scorpions. They lived in aquatic (marine, brackish, and freshwater) and terrestrial environments from the Ordovician through the Permian Period. Eurypterids came in various sizes, ranging from as small as a few inches to as large as 9 feet in length.
Eurypterus remipes is New York’s state fossil, and is abundant in certain layers of Silurian-age rocks.
Length: 16 inches