A new study uncovered an extinct sea beast that dominated the sea a million years ago. The terrifying fish with a very powerful bite looked nothing like any sea creature today.
Extinct Sea Monster's New Images Revealed
Scientists discovered a sea monster resembling a cross between a Great White shark and Amazonian catfish. The armored fish called Dunkleosteus terrelli, roamed underwater during the Devonian period, around 415 million to 360 million years ago, The Sun reported.
Based on recent studies, the aquatic creature had a bite that was more potent than any fish that has ever existed.
In fact, each bite from its jaws probably exerted more than 1,100 pounds of force. Researchers compared the prehistoric sea creature to contemporary man-eating fish that can consume full prey.
Dunkleosteus has frequently been thought to function similarly to a great white shark, according to lead author Russell Engelman, a Ph.D. student at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. However, as they learn more about the fish, they realized that it might be more realistic to characterize it as a hybrid of a shark, grouper, viperfish, tuna, and piraiba-a huge predatory Amazonian catfish that fans of Animal Planet's River Monsters are likely familiar with.
Dunkleosteus Had Wider Mouths
Dunkleosteus belonged to an ancient class of aquatic animals with articulating armor plates known as placoderms.
They possessed far wider mouths than sharks, although the length of these creatures is still up for debate.
According to Engelman, Dunkleosteus length estimates range from five to 10 meters. However, it doesn't appear that anyone has statistically examined these techniques or whether they lead to accurate or reasonable outcomes in arthropathies.
Some experts were convinced that the creature most likely had a shorter, more shark-like body. Engleman said Dunkleosteus had a larger mouth compared to its body length than sharks, with a relative mouth width more akin to predatory catfishes.
Understanding the creature's body length is essential for understanding its life patterns and the Devonian period's ecology in general because they were apex predators.
And although reconstructions of placoderm behavior sometimes rely on analogies to shark behavior, it's possible that the two animals operated differently than first believed.
According to Engelman, the greatest prey a fish can eat depends largely on its mouth size. The findings indicate that placoderms were striking well above their weight class.
The new study is published in MDPI.
History of Dunkleosteus
According to FossilGuy.com, the remains of Dunkleosteus were first discovered by amateur paleontologist Jay Terrell and his son in 1867 when they were along the Lake Erie cliffs at the town of Sheffield Lake. He described the sea creature as a "terrible fish."
The fish was rediscovered by paleontologist David Dunkle. It was eventually named Dunkleosteus terrelli in honor of the pair - Dunkle and Terrell.
Since it was considered among the largest and most powerful fish, many believed its diet included just anything it could eat. There's also evidence of cannibalism.
However, just like placoderms, Dunkleosteus, was toothless. But they have armored jaw plates that formed massive self-sharpening blades. They could chomp straight through bones like giant crocodiles do.
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