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Thousands of species of trilobites existed over hundreds of millions of years. One had flexible armour which allowed body segments to be specialised for different tasks. With jointed limbs, they could move fast. But the trilobite’s real trump card was its eyes - the first to see in detail. This was an evolutionary bombshell. For the first time predators and prey could see each other coming. Eyes became both a hunting tool and the first line of defence. The eye generated a deadly race, as each was driven to out-do the other. The rush to stay ahead sparked an explosion of new life. The eyes of the mantis shrimp are the most sophisticated eyes of any creature on the planet. Whereas human vision uses just three colour pigments - red, blue and yellow – mantis shrimps use at least eight. Mantis shrimps need this hi-tech equipment to hunt their prey and avoid each other in their colourful coral world. The mantis shrimp is armed with nature’s most earth-shattering weapon - a claw turned club that it wields like a hammer.