The world’s earliest apex predator was Anomalocaris – a large, superficially crustacean-like carnivorous invertebrate, which inhabited shallow seas worldwide during the early to mid-Cambrian Period, 540-500 million years ago. Up to 1 m long, it was huge in size relative to all other animals alive at that time, and is believed to have preyed upon trilobites and primitive shrimp-like organisms.