HOME | DD

Description
Dunkelosteus terrelli is a species of giant, hyper-carnivorous placoderm hailing from the Late Devonian waters of what is now eastern North America, about 382-358 million years ago. With a length of 8.79 m (28.8ft) and 1-meter-wide jaws, D.terrelli is the largest and best-known species of its genus, as well as a voracious predator that had one of the highest recorded bite forces of any vertebrate living or extinct. It had a four-bar-linkage mechanism for opening its jaws, similar to a pump-jack, that utilized connections between the skull, the thoracic shield, the lower jaw and the jaw muscles, all joined together by movable joints. This allowed the King of the Placoderms to open and close its jaws at speeds of 50-60 milliseconds (in a similar process to suction-feeding) and produce a highly powerful bite force ranging between 6,000-7,400 newtons, strong enough to puncture or cut through the cuticle or dermal armor of its ammonite or placoderm prey. But Dunkelosteus may have routinely regurgitated the bones of its prey rather than digesting them, as is the case with some fossils of this incredible Devonian predator that have been preserved with boluses of semi-digested or partially-eaten remains of other fish.

Description
Dunkelosteus terrelli is a species of giant, hyper-carnivorous placoderm hailing from the Late Devonian waters of what is now eastern North America, about 382-358 million years ago. With a length of 8.79 m (28.8ft) and 1-meter-wide jaws, D.terrelli is the largest and best-known species of its genus, as well as a voracious predator that had one of the highest recorded bite forces of any vertebrate living or extinct. It had a four-bar-linkage mechanism for opening its jaws, similar to a pump-jack, that utilized connections between the skull, the thoracic shield, the lower jaw and the jaw muscles, all joined together by movable joints. This allowed the King of the Placoderms to open and close its jaws at speeds of 50-60 milliseconds (in a similar process to suction-feeding) and produce a highly powerful bite force ranging between 6,000-7,400 newtons, strong enough to puncture or cut through the cuticle or dermal armor of its ammonite or placoderm prey. But Dunkelosteus may have routinely regurgitated the bones of its prey rather than digesting them, as is the case with some fossils of this incredible Devonian predator that have been preserved with boluses of semi-digested or partially-eaten remains of other fish.