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Known as Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, the sea scorpions were nearly 8 feet in length and had enormous claws with which they used to catch their prey, according to the study.

There, they may have encountered mollusks, trilobites and fearsome sea scorpions.

In the Devonian period—hundreds of millions of years ago—it was filled with sea lilies, sea scorpions, armor-plated monster fish, forests of glass sponges, and patch reefs of strange corals.

And unlike its modern-day namesake, which strikes its prey with an over-the-back movement, the long-extinct sea scorpion would have likely brandished its tail from side to side. 

Scientists have unearthed the oldest known species of a long-extinct group known as sea scorpions, a find that could mean the ancient creatures may have an even older origin than previously thought.