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Ancient fish had bite like Tyrannosaurus rex mongabay.com November 28, 2006
The predator, called Dunkleosteus terrelli, had a bite with a force of 11,000 pounds and 80,000 pounds per square inch at its fang tip, allowing it to crush the shell of virtually an armored marine animal that lived during its time. The fish was also capable of opening its mouth very quickly to create a strong suction force to pull fast-moving prey into its mouth. "The most interesting part of this work for me was discovering that this heavily armored fish was both fast during jaw opening and quite powerful during jaw closing," said Mark Westneat, Curator of Fishes at The Field Museum and co-author of the paper. "This is possible due to the unique engineering design of its skull and different muscles used for opening and closing. And it made this fish into one of the first true apex predators seen in the vertebrate fossil record."
"Dunkleosteus was able to devour anything in its environment," said Philip Anderson, at the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and lead author of the research. The bladed jaws, capable of ripping apart prey larger than its own mouth, is a feature sharks didn't develop until 100 million years later. "Overall, this study shows how useful mechanical engineering theory can be in studying the behavior of fossil animals," he added. "We cannot actually watch these animals feed or interact, but we can understand the range of possible behaviors by examining how the preserved parts are shaped and connected to each other." This article is based on a news release from the Field Museum. Recommend this article? Comments? >Digg this article | >Hugg this article | Contact News options
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