Chunky Dunk: Ancient Sea Monster 'Dunkleosteus' Is the First Vertebrate Superpredator; New Research Shows That It Wasn't as Big as Previously Thought

Dunkleosteus was one of the largest prehistoric fishes documented. However, recent research reveals that it was not as big as it was previously thought to be.

Dunkleosteus: Ancient Superpredator

Dunkleosteus terrelli, dubbed Dunk, was among the many superpredators that filled the oceans during the Devonian era that took place roughly 419 to 358 million years ago. Live Science notes that this huge fish with armor had jaws that were blade-like and that could close with a force of around 8,000 pounds.

The first fossils of Dunk were found around 150 years ago. The remains were spotted along the Lake Erie coast, close to Cleveland. The largest found specimens are included in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's collections.

However, since only the creature's skull got fossilized, researchers had to estimate the relationship between the skull and body size. However, scientists may have made wrong assumptions regarding Dunk's shark-like form and size.

SciTechDaily reports that, in a recent study, a scientist proposes that Dunk's size may have been remarkably exaggerated. The scientist demonstrated that the creature was chunkier and shorter than previously thought. Findings were included in the Diversity journal.

Dunk Was Smaller Than Previously Thought

According to Russell Engelman, who is a PhD student at the CWRU (Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Dunk is quite a strange fish. However, old estimates regarding its size led specialists to overlook the other characteristics that made the creature even more peculiar. He mentions that some scientists have been referring to the creatures as "Chunkleosteus" or "Chunky Dunky" after seeing his study.

Engelman acknowledges that the size changes of Dunk may not be welcome because of how the fish has become a paleontology icon across Cleveland, to the point of being declared as the state fossil fish by the Ohio General Assembly. In fact, there was even a Twitter account dedicated to the fish.

The majority of studies that focused on the Dunkleosteus based the findings on the specimens from the museum.

Despite this, minimal research about the creature has been conducted since the 1930s. He says that, if reliable size estimations are not present, there is not much to say about Dunkleosteus aside from it being huge and scary. Engelman notes that the size estimates are examples of characteristics that slipped over everyone's observations because the people generally assumed that the fish had been rigorously studied.

Because Dunkelosteus was an arthrodire, the creature had a bony and armored head and a body full of cartilage. This meant that only the creature's head got preserved while its shape and size remained a mystery.

The recent study suggests that the length should be estimated based on its 24-inch head, without factoring the snout, that is considered a method for measuring living fish and smaller Dunk relatives that were discovered from fuller skeletons.

Engelman says that the study's reasoning is based on one observation: short fish have short heads while long fish have longer heads.

Dunk's Length Cold Have Been 11 to 13 Feet

Based on this, Engelman concluded that Dunk had a length of 11 to 13 feet. This is remarkably shorter compared to other previous estimates.

Engelman says that an 11-foot Dunk essentially weighs the same as a great white shark that is 15-feet-long. He notes that, while Dunkleosteus' new proportions may seem goofy, the creature actually shares a tuna's body shape and a mouth that doubles the size of a great white shark.

He mentions that, though the size estimates could be disappointing, it may still have been the biggest existing animal up to that specific point. The estimates also enable various analyses of the remains that were previously seen as impossible.

Particia Princehouse, who serves as the associate director for the Institute for Science of Origins at CWRU, expresses how this fresh take demonstrates that there are still many breakthroughs to look forward to in paleontology.

Check out more news and information on Paleontology in Science Times.