Malakhims were the first dignathans that had adapted to be truly successful apex predators. Likely hailing from an eudignathan clade which included mainly durophages and benthic scavengers, malakhims had instead opted for armoured prey in the form of other aquatic dignathans. Somewhat similarly to the freshwater haruspices, malakhims use their arm-jaws to crush the outer skeleton of their prey. Where they differ is how the arm-jaw is placed. In haruspices, the secondary jaw is horizontal, resulting in a gape that looks like a flower. This is ample for crushing limbs or small animals, but where it lacks is the smaller bite size. Malakhims go for far larger prey, so their arm-jaws are positioned parallel to their heads, similar to the arms of many anomalocarids. The particular specimen pictured is the juvenile form of a pelagic superpredator, which could reach over 8 meters in length when fully grown. Unfortunately, they died out completely in the next mass extinction, leaving behind no extant relatives.
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