Dunkleosteus
|
|
|
Dunkleosteus is one of the largest placoderms ever to live. Placoderms were a group of fish well-known for their armor. In Dunkleostues this manifests in massive armor plates that shield the head and neck. In fact, pretty much all Dunkleosteus fossils are of these armor plates. Dunkelosteus does not have teeth - instead, bony projections from the skull and mandible form a sharp shearing surface. The linkage of its jaws allow for ridiculously fast jaw seeds - it can open its jaws in as little as 20 milliseconds! It also has an absurdly high bite force, at well over 4,000 N (over 900 pounds) throughout the jaw. Dunkleosteus was an apex predator, one of the largest animals in its environment. It's a relatively slow but powerful swimmer thanks to its armor. Many available prey items were fast and/or armored, but the speed and force of Dunkleosteus's jaws could deal with this. Dunkleosteus regurgiates the harder, indigestible parts of its prey. Our Dunkelosteus lives in the Devonian section of the aquarium. At around 3 meters long, he's approximately half full size; it'll take a few more years to reach him to reach it, but he's still an impressive site to behold. Feeding time is a popular, if messy, event. |
Scientific name Location Time Length Diet |