Swimming

Kugellager

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The only scorpions that I know of that swim have been extinct for several hundred million years.

However, in tarantulas, H.gigas is reportedly a swimmer.

John
];')
 

skinheaddave

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I have seen a P.imperator walk along the bottom of a large water dish. Beyond that, I don't believe that they are equipped for swimming at all.

Cheers,
Dave
 

Navaros

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Closest I'va read about besides the ones that are extinct are some that live on tidal shorelines. Anyone know what species those are?
 

skinheaddave

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According to Polis (1990), the following species can be found in and around the littoral zones:

  • Opistophthalmus litoralis
  • Centruroides exilicauda
  • Mesobuthus martensi
  • Euscorpius carpathicus
  • Vaejovis littoralis

He does mention, however, that there are at least ten species representing four families. It should be noted that at least some of the listed species are not exclusively associated with tidal zones. Even for the ones that are, I have no idea if they are any better at "swimming" than other species. It should also be noted that Euscorpius has undergone a major revision since the book was published and E.carpathicus was split, if I remember correctly.

Cheers,
Dave
 

Navaros

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Thanks. :) While you're at it, read some scorps have no venom at all and are very small, any idea which species those are?
 

ShaunHolder

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Swimming scorpion. Thats funny. =D

The Whale Hunting Shark Scorpion
 

Navaros

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More awesome than funny. Would be so cool if there were still some ocean scorps around.
 

Kugellager

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Yeah some of those ancient ones got to be nearly 3 feet(.9m) long!

Imagine that?

John
];')
 

Gravy

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yeah would kinda be cool unless you liked swimmin :p some of the other monsters about were massive in that period megladon is it was like 65 foot shark :/

Mmmm although those scorps don't look exactly like the scorps we keep :E
 

Navaros

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What do they look like? I've never actually seen a pic of one.
 

Gravy

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look more like a giant flat shrimp/lobster if that makes any sense :E In uk there was a program going though dif periods when the dinosaurs were about but it was just about the ocean life during those periods was a very good series.
 

Navaros

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Ah, I know what you're talking about. :)
Do you know if the original land scorps looked much different?
 

rainman

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well now imagine if any of those tagged one of us. a stinger the size of my finger. like some jack hammer coming through my finger. set one of those puppies in my backyard. feed them fish and cats. show no mercy.
 

Longbord1

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Eurypterids were basically huge scorps right??

u can still get water scorps bnut they are bugs.
 

Earth Tiger

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Thank everyone for the great inputs, particularly skinheaddave who made me look into those species living close to littoral zones.

While modern scorpions dont seem physically capable of swimming, scorpions are also living creatures.

Famed paleontologist and artist Gregory S. Paul always reminds us that living creatures can always achieve something beyond the boundary of our current understanding of biomechanics. A few simplified equations alone cannot exclude the possibility of a fast running T. rex. This statement is very true - like scorpions, elephants dont seem to be swimmers at all - yet they are good swimmers!

To illustrate how creatures can achieve something beyond our imagination, I think the following link to a story with my recorded video files after a quest of searching rare arachnids from China are anything beyond your imagination:

Everybody loves Raymond
 

skinheaddave

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re: organisms going beyond supposed biomechanical bounds.

Someone once proved that bumblebees can't fly. They obviously can. It eventually turned out that they had overlooked a couple factors, including the actual path that the wings take. It can now be shown through physics that bumblebees can fly -- something any gradeschooler will tell you. :)

Cheers,
Dave
 

BigBadConrad

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I've never seen one actually swim, but I have found several C. exilicauda under river rocks just a few feet from the water at Bartlett Lake (Scottsdale AZ).
 

pandinus

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the discovery channel aired a documentary on prehistoric deadly oceans, and one of the seas mentioned was inhabited by aquatic creatures known as sea scorpions. It was really cool, i think that there might be a video of it somewhere.
 
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