The Dunkleosteus terrelli sat atop the food chain during the Devonian period, and is considered the fiercest predator of its time. While not the fastest swimmer, paleontoligists estimate that the armored fish opened its mouth in one-fiftieth of a second; this created a vacume that sucked unlucky prey toward their doom within the clenches of razor-sharp jaw-bones and creepy fangs. When biting down, the Dunkleosteus concentrated over 8,000 pounds per square inch of force at the tip of its mouth. The powerful bite enabled the opportunistic predator to feed upon other armored fish. Markings found on fossilized remains of the Dunkleosteusterrelli suggest that the glutonous feeders had a penchant for cannibalism. | Source: The Jesse Earl Hyde Collection, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Department of Geological SciencesDownload Original File
Source
The Jesse Earl Hyde Collection, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Department of Geological Sciences
"Jaws of an Apex Predator" appears in: Dunkleosteus
