Dunkleosteus

1–2 minutes

Quick Stats:

• When: Late Devonian period
• Where: Morocco, Europe, North America (Cleveland shale in Ohio is home to the most famous specimens)
• What: Armoured Prehistoric Fish
• Size: 10m (33ft)
• Meaning of name: Dunkle’s Bone
• Diet: Carnivorous (meat eater)

“Dunkleosteus” by BWJones is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Dunkleosteus terrelli (fossil fish) (Cleveland Shale Member, Ohio Shale, Upper Devonian; Rocky River Valley, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) 21” by James St. John is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Click here to see a clip of the BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs: Armoured Marine Giants

Click here to see the full episode of Sea Monsters: Walking with Dinosaurs (episode 2 of 3)

In More Detail

The Dunkleosteus lived in the Late Devonian period, which was around 375 million years ago to 360 million years ago. The distribution of this marine monster is spread from Europe to North America, with (as stated previously) the most famous finds originating in the Cleveland Shale in Ohio. (The second image is one of these specimens.) This animal was a heavily armoured fish protected by strong, hard plates. This fish is large, at about 10m in length, that’s roughly 5 and 1/2 times the length of a 1.8m tall person! The “Dunkle” part is named after David Dunkle, from Cleveland’s Natural History Museum. The “osteus” part of the name comes from the greek word “ὀστέον” (osteon) which means bone. This fearsome creature was carnivorous, and there is a debated theory that they could be cannibals. However, the bite marks that supposedly back this theory could also have the explanation that they were fighting for dominance, rather than trying to eat each other, as they were the apex of the food chain at the time.