Before dinosaurs came around, a terrifying nine-foot crocodile ruled the food chain in a wet environment that is now North Carolina.

According to Live Science, authors of a study published in the journal Scientific Reports dubbed the beast Carnufex (which translates to "butcher") carolinensis. True to its descendants, the ancient "butcher" had a long skull and teeth like blades.

"Fossils from this time period are extremely important to scientists because they record the earliest appearance of crocodylomorphs and theropod dinosaurs, two groups that first evolved in the Triassic period, yet managed to survive to the present day in the form of crocodiles and birds," study lead author Lindsay Zanno, an assistant research professor at N.C. State University and the director of the Paleontology and Geology lab at the museum, said in a press release. "The discovery of Carnufex, one of the world's earliest and largest crocodylomorphs, adds new information to the push and pull of top terrestrial predators across Pangea."

C. carolinensis lived about 230 million years ago, was able to walk on its hind legs and likely fed on fellow reptiles that lived alongside it.

"'Butcher' seemed a very appropriate way to get that into the minds of people," Zanno told Live Science. "People don't think about how many different predators were around in the Triassic, and that crocs really ruled before dinosaurs."

But the arrival of the dinosaurs spelled the end of many of Earth's biggest predators at the time.

"As theropod dinosaurs started to make it big, the ancestors of modern crocs initially took on a role similar to foxes or jackals, with small, sleek bodies and long limbs," study co-author Susan Drymala, a graduate student at N.C. State, said in the release. "If you want to picture these animals, just think of a modern day fox, but with alligator skin instead of fur."