1.35" Spiny Ceratarges Trilobite - Mrakib, Morocco

Now this is one alien looking trilobite, it's almost hard to imagine that it was once alive inhabiting our oceans. It's a Ceratarges from the Middle Devonian limestone of Morocco. One can imagine that the large spines may have served as defensive protection against fish that had just begun to develop hardened jaws and likely had trilobites on the dinner menu.

There are currently about 5 different species of Certarges described from Morocco each a slight variation on the others. A paper describing some of these species can be found at:

NEW SPECIES OF THE LICHID TRILOBITE CERATARGES FROM THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN IN MOROCCO