Scientists now have a wealth of information about jawed vertebrates thanks to discovering the Dunkleosteus terrelli.
Its existence can be traced back to 400 million years ago when it easily lorded over the ocean kingdom. With a formidable length of 33 feet, awesome weight of 4 tons and deadly bladed jaws, it easily ate its way up and through the food chain.
Its bite force is reckoned to equal 11000 pounds that was concentrated into a select area with a super powered force of 80000 pounds per square inch.
The fish is classified as a placoderms that included a wide variety of fishes that were armored and that reigned supreme over the population of aquatic ecosystems. This species dates back to the period of the Devonian that goes as far back as 415 to 360 million years ago.
While scientists have been familiar with the existence of this high powered predator, a fresh lot of important information will soon be available in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters on November 29.
The picture one forms in the mind of this creature defies description: extremely rapid opening of the mouth that generated a powerful suction, effortlessly sucking in prey into its mouth. An awe-inspiring and unique combination of a powerful and fast bite that is not easily found among creatures.
A co-author of the soon to be published paper, Mark Westneat, Curator of Fishes at The Field Museum reveals that he found this feature of a fast and powerful bite particularly interesting. This has been enabled, he says, because of the superb and innovative engineering layout of the skull and mouth muscles. The presence of this trait recognizes the fish as a primary authentic "apex predators seen in the vertebrate fossil record."
A particularly recognizable feature of this fish is its bladed jaws. One of the first vertebrates to be invested with this feature, it allowed for an enormously powerful bite alongwith ruthlessly rapid fragmentation of the prey before being sucked into the mouth.
Such an indepth understanding of the fish by scientists was made possible with their efforts to work on the fossilized skull of a Dunkleosteus terrelli. The scientists then took backward steps to understand how the muscles came to be.
Scientists were able to fashion a biomechanical model that displayed the force and motion of the fish's jaw, the superbly kinetic skull backed by a advanced mechanism of four rotational joints that complemented each other functionally. Scientists are able to state confidently that this creature surpasses the most powerful bites of any fish and any animal including the demonic Tyrannosaurus Rex.
This powerful creature was able to choose its prey among the vast range of aquatic animals that included the formidable shark. Other creatures included arthropods and ammonoids.
This is attested to by Philip Anderson, at the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago who led the research. He observes that this formidable creature could attack and assume just about any inhabitant of the environment. Its features, particularly the bladed jaws were way ahead of its time particularly since we know that it was then seen in sharks after 100 million years.
The study apart from evoking our interest in a truly magnificent fish species has highlighted the relevance of mechanical engineering theory. While we can never have the privilege of actually watching this animal, Anderson says, technology allows us to go back in time and obtain useful impressions of how these creatures lived and their significant body features.
Its existence can be traced back to 400 million years ago when it easily lorded over the ocean kingdom. With a formidable length of 33 feet, awesome weight of 4 tons and deadly bladed jaws, it easily ate its way up and through the food chain.
Its bite force is reckoned to equal 11000 pounds that was concentrated into a select area with a super powered force of 80000 pounds per square inch.
The fish is classified as a placoderms that included a wide variety of fishes that were armored and that reigned supreme over the population of aquatic ecosystems. This species dates back to the period of the Devonian that goes as far back as 415 to 360 million years ago.
While scientists have been familiar with the existence of this high powered predator, a fresh lot of important information will soon be available in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters on November 29.
The picture one forms in the mind of this creature defies description: extremely rapid opening of the mouth that generated a powerful suction, effortlessly sucking in prey into its mouth. An awe-inspiring and unique combination of a powerful and fast bite that is not easily found among creatures.
A co-author of the soon to be published paper, Mark Westneat, Curator of Fishes at The Field Museum reveals that he found this feature of a fast and powerful bite particularly interesting. This has been enabled, he says, because of the superb and innovative engineering layout of the skull and mouth muscles. The presence of this trait recognizes the fish as a primary authentic "apex predators seen in the vertebrate fossil record."
A particularly recognizable feature of this fish is its bladed jaws. One of the first vertebrates to be invested with this feature, it allowed for an enormously powerful bite alongwith ruthlessly rapid fragmentation of the prey before being sucked into the mouth.
Such an indepth understanding of the fish by scientists was made possible with their efforts to work on the fossilized skull of a Dunkleosteus terrelli. The scientists then took backward steps to understand how the muscles came to be.
Scientists were able to fashion a biomechanical model that displayed the force and motion of the fish's jaw, the superbly kinetic skull backed by a advanced mechanism of four rotational joints that complemented each other functionally. Scientists are able to state confidently that this creature surpasses the most powerful bites of any fish and any animal including the demonic Tyrannosaurus Rex.
This powerful creature was able to choose its prey among the vast range of aquatic animals that included the formidable shark. Other creatures included arthropods and ammonoids.
This is attested to by Philip Anderson, at the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago who led the research. He observes that this formidable creature could attack and assume just about any inhabitant of the environment. Its features, particularly the bladed jaws were way ahead of its time particularly since we know that it was then seen in sharks after 100 million years.
The study apart from evoking our interest in a truly magnificent fish species has highlighted the relevance of mechanical engineering theory. While we can never have the privilege of actually watching this animal, Anderson says, technology allows us to go back in time and obtain useful impressions of how these creatures lived and their significant body features.
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