The Dunkleosteus is a one of the largest prehistoric fish ever discovered! This saltwater fish was said to live in the Late Devonian period, which was approximately 370 million years ago. This fish was truly massive in size with armor plating on its body. They could grow to about 33' (10m) and could weigh almost 4 tons! Fossils of this fish have been collected in a few different places across the globe including Belgium, Morocco, Poland and North America.
Dunkleosteus didn't have any true teeth, instead it has two pairs of sharp gnathal plates which it used to form a beak. This fish's bite is said to be one of the most powerful ever recorded, second best only to Megalodon. Dunkleosteus was believed to be able to make up to 8,000lbs per square inch of pressure, this puts it into the class with the T Rex! This fish's unique jaw could also open super fast, in just one-fiftieth of a second. This speed would make any would be prey that was close by get sucked right into its mouth. They were also though to be cannibalistic when given the chance.The Dunkleosteus has recently been featured in Sea Monster on the BBC, here is a little clip from the show...
If you have any more information about Dunkleosteus that you would like to share people leave us a comment below...
7 comments:
This fish was so awesome it had a vestigial muscle car, likely a Mustang or Charger, growing out of its left dorsal side.
Yeah, that's what I said like a few days ago and the admin took it down!
Another little known fact about this AWESOME fish is that it was slowly developing a specialized gas bladder which emitted (as best as science can tell with all known tests) a completely INTERT pink gas. It is unknown whether the it was used for defensive purposes or just to show off to the other fish (seriously it was at the top of the food chain--dunkleosteos dined on titans and gods).
In a lost translation of a shogun's diary from medieval Japan it is written about how the noble emperor summoned twelve of the high court ninja wizards to send the chef back in time to subdue dunkleosteos and turn him into one ton sashimi rolls. It is also written that no wasabi was needed to spice the beast because dunkleosteos pumped the green root-paste through it's circulatory system instead of regular blood.
Wow... What the hell have you guys been smoking? : )
Smoking fossilized Dunkleosteus feces!
Apologies to the admin, but I learned about this (AWESOIME) fish back in a Geology class in college and these stories became sort of a running gag for the whole semester. When I read this page linked from Reddit I just couldn't help myself and shared it with my buddies from the class.
Ahh... I knew Reddit had to be behind this somehow : ) That's cool... Go nuts!!!
This thing can crush bone, but the
reference that I was looking at was
saying this Dunkleosteus weighed
20,000 tons! Oh and have you ever heard of the largest arthropod in
the history of Earth(Eurypterid, the 6-foot long sea scorpion).
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