But as it got older, its diet expanded, and its prey got bigger. As a juvenile, Dunkleosteus terrelli preyed on small sharks and bony. Without its powerful swimming strength, it would have starved due to its inability to hunt the large prey it fed on. So, while we can estimate based on the few available facts, it is possible that Dunkleosteus terrelli was a powerful and fast swimmer. However, it’s worth noting that many other placoderms or armored fishes adapted to fast swimming at the surface and bottom of the ocean. How Fast Could Dunkleosteus Terrelli Swim? Dunkleosteus had a two-part bony, armored exterior that made it a slow but powerful swimmer.Īlthough scientists believe that Dunkleosteus terrelli was a powerful swimmer, its heavy body armor would have made it slow. This is a trait shared by other fishes classified as placoderms. The species is believed to have inhabited shallow waters as juveniles and adolescents before moving to deep-sea locations as adults. Luckily, many other states in America, including New York, Washington, and Illinois, have Dunkleosteus terrelli fossils on display. Some states where fossils were found include Ohio, Tennessee, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. The discovered fossils showed that Dunkleosteus terrelli lived in many parts of Europe and the United States. Dunkleosteus combines “Dunkle” and the Greek word “ὀστέον,” which translates to “bone.” This means that “Dunkleosteus” literally means “Dunkle’s bone.”ĭavid Dunkle worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and then at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, where his work on fish fossils gained him much recognition. In 1956, Dunkleosteus was named in honor of David Dunkle, a former curator of Vertebrate Paleontology. (Image Caption: In 1956, Dunkleosteus was named in honor of David Dunkle, a former curator of Vertebrate Paleontology.) This mega fish is classified as placoderm, a group of prehistoric plate-skinned fishes. Dunkleosteus terrelli also weighed more than 8,000 pounds, making it one of the largest fish to ever exist. The species is the largest in the genus and one of the largest armored fish ever.Īlthough there are multiple accounts of how large this giant was, we can say that it was around 28.8 to 33 feet long. All 10 species of the genus are identified by their large jaws and armored bodies, but Dunkleosteus terrelli stands out from the rest. Courtesy John Hutchinson.2,053 People Couldn’t Ace This Quiz Think You Can?ĭunkleosteus terrelli is an extinct species of fish under the Dunkleosteus genus. The research by Swansea University PhD student Jack Cooper, shark expert Catalina Pimiento from the Paleontological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich, and John Hutchinson from the Royal Veterinary College shows the sharks may have eaten meals that were the size of an orca whale, consumed in an about five or more bites. New research published this week in the journal Science Advances suggests that the sizable shark was not only the apex predator of its day, but a “transoceanic super-predator” that could travel thousands of miles across oceans on long migrations, even faster than modern-day sharks. The megalodon ( Otodus megalodon or O.megalodon) is believed to be the largest shark that ever has lived, measuring 34 to 66 feet and weighed upwards of 100,000 pounds. About 23 to 3.6 million years ago, a shark roughly three times the size of the great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias)-arguably made famous in the blockbuster 1975 movie JAWS-roamed the oceans of the world.
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