New York: Eurypterus remipes (state fossil)
New York: Eurypterus remipes (state fossil)
New York's state fossil, Eurypterus remipes, was a formidable predator on muddy sea floors that covered much of
the eastern Appalachian Basin near the end of the Silurian Period, around
420 million years ago. Eurypterids are an extinct group of arthropods that were common during the Paleozoic Era. Some were, in fact, the largest arthropods ever known. Eurypterids are sometimes called "sea scorpions," but this is rather a misnomer, because they are more closely related to horseshoe crabs than to true scorpions, and were not always fully marine (subaerial trackways have been found).
All arthropods have a segmented body, jointed appendages, and an exoskeleton. Eurypterids additionally had pincers analogous to those of modern crabs, which they used to grasp prey animals such as trilobites and cephalopods as they walked or crawled along the sea floor.
The first eurypterid fossil was discovered in 1818 in Silurian rocks of New York state. Since that time, over 300 species have been found on every continent. The best specimens come from oucrops of the Bertie Dolostone in central and western New York and southern Ontario Province in Canada.
Although Eurypterus remipes is not as common as some other New York eurypterids, its distinction as the first member of the group ever discovered led to its adoption as the state fossil in 1984.
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