NYT SCIENCE: Dunk Was Chunky, but Still Deadly
By Jack Tamisiea
Section: Science
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 4, 2023 at 02:00AM
However, a new study is taking a sizable bite out of Dunkleosteus’s estimated size. Russell Engelman, a paleontologist pursuing his Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University, recently compared the proportions of Dunkleosteus’s armor-clad head to the skull sizes of hundreds of living and fossil fish. Last month, in the journal Diversity, Mr. Engelman concluded that these ancient fish maxed out at only 13 feet and were shaped more like stocky tuna than svelte sharks.
For the study, Mr. Engelman examined several Dunkleosteus terrelli specimens at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Many of these fossils were discovered nearby in cliffs along the Ohio River, making specimens of the “Dunk” a prehistoric icon in the city. But little research had been done on Dunkleosteus’s size, and some of the past measurements seemed fishy to Mr. Engelman.
Dunkleosteus belonged to an ancient faction of fish known as the arthrodires that ruled the seas during the Devonian. Because the bulk of Dunkleosteus’s body was most likely composed of fragile cartilage, only the thick armor plates that encased its head and neck were preserved as fossils. While these plates preserve the predator’s jagged jaws, they reveal little about the rest of its body. As a result, most efforts to size Dunkleosteus relied on extrapolating from the proportions of its much smaller relatives.
By Jack Tamisiea
Section: Science
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 4, 2023 at 02:00AM
A fossil fish called Dunkleosteus was less svelte shark and more rotund tuna, but that only made it a fiercer predator in the seas of the Devonian period.
With a bite that could split a shark in two and an armored mug only a mother could love, Dunkleosteus was one of Earth’s earliest apex predators, terrorizing subtropical seas 360 million years ago during the Devonian period. By some estimates, the monster fish measured as long as a school bus.However, a new study is taking a sizable bite out of Dunkleosteus’s estimated size. Russell Engelman, a paleontologist pursuing his Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University, recently compared the proportions of Dunkleosteus’s armor-clad head to the skull sizes of hundreds of living and fossil fish. Last month, in the journal Diversity, Mr. Engelman concluded that these ancient fish maxed out at only 13 feet and were shaped more like stocky tuna than svelte sharks.
For the study, Mr. Engelman examined several Dunkleosteus terrelli specimens at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Many of these fossils were discovered nearby in cliffs along the Ohio River, making specimens of the “Dunk” a prehistoric icon in the city. But little research had been done on Dunkleosteus’s size, and some of the past measurements seemed fishy to Mr. Engelman.
Dunkleosteus belonged to an ancient faction of fish known as the arthrodires that ruled the seas during the Devonian. Because the bulk of Dunkleosteus’s body was most likely composed of fragile cartilage, only the thick armor plates that encased its head and neck were preserved as fossils. While these plates preserve the predator’s jagged jaws, they reveal little about the rest of its body. As a result, most efforts to size Dunkleosteus relied on extrapolating from the proportions of its much smaller relatives.
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/04/science/chunky-dunk-fossil.html
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