Great appendage

Great appendages are large claw-like apparatuses which attach to the heads of the 'great appendage arthropods', a group whose monophyly is debated, but which includes the anomalocaridids. They are used in food manipulation; Anomalocaris used them to manipulate prey such as trilobites, while Laggania used them to filter algae and similar small particles from the water in which it dwelt.