'Excalibur' Seaworm: The 400-Million-Year-Old Worm with a Full Suit of Armor

Excalibur was a supernatural weapon held by the mythical King Arthur. He was the guardian of Britannia in the 5th and 6th millennia, that according to ancient English tradition.

This particular seaworm's full suited armor is somehow compared to Excalibur, being known to live for about 400 million years from today.

The tale of that charmed sword continues on today, in the form of an ancient insect that can be crushed within two fingers.

The 'Excalibur' Seaworm

Introducing Lepidocoleus caliburnus, this antiquated, ocean mysterious may not have reached the importance of its Arthurian forebear, but, as an innovative study published in the journal Publications in Paleontology tries to point out, it did apparently act the part of an extensively nobleman, enclosed in interlocking panels of calcite crystals which then managed to run the distance of the creature's body.

Together with its companion subspecies L. L. shurikenus which was called after the shuriken, a pointed ninja throwing star and characterized for the very first time in the current investigation.

Caliburnus existed what is now Australia 400 million years ago, throughout the Devonian epoch.

According to the study's authors, both worms most likely resided on coastal areas in sea floor that are now part of Australian continent.

They most probably started eating sustainably grown garbage and utilized their ceramic armor to protect themselves from attackers.

The researchers used micro-CT readings of worm remains to generate computerized 3D reconstructions of their infantry armor in order to determine how well secure these organisms were. With the micro-CT experts where able to determined the protection capacity of the species being studied in the investigation.

In a press release Sarah Jacquet who is the primary research investigator of the study stated, "We can practically distinguish the different elements of the plate through micro-CT."

Sarah Jacquet aside fromm being the lead researcher of the study is an associate faculty member of geological sciences at the University of Missouri, in an announcement.

"We can alter the visual representations to see how the various plate parts shifted relation to one other and the extent of collision amongst them."

Also read: This Ingenious Technique Helped Scientist to 'Read Minds' of Jellyfish

The 400-Million-Year-Old Worm

The worms have two overlapping protection plates, one extending down the course for every worm's backbone and then the other encompassing all edges of the organisms, according to the investigators.

The worms may well have been able to coil into a ball to effectively fight off attackers, but these amazing protections did not prevent them from becoming endangered in a "massive ecological disaster," according to Jacquet.

Beginning thousands of years ago if not million years old, the impending catastrophic event at the conclusion of the Devonian epoch knocked out 75% of the species on Earth.

These two creatures, Excalibur and Shuriken, are just no more forgotten or ignored form the history, and they may rest easier knowing that stories of their risky and brave existence are still being repeated 400 million years later. For about the same reason, King Arthur could very well slaughter.

Also read: Animals and Plants Are Starting to Live in the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'