Not elder law: one dang scary fish…
The scariest fish ever is now extinct, but its bite rivals that oflarge alligators and Tyrannosaurus rex, making it one very terrifyingpredator.
This animal of the ancient sea had the most powerful jaws of any fishthat ever lived, more impressive even than that of the biggest greatwhite shark. Scientists at the Field Museum and the University ofChicago are offering the world a view into the life and ways of a 400million year old fish, the Dunkleosteus terrelli that “roamed” thewaters with its great length of 33 feet and weight of 4 tons.
It has been known for years that this was a dominant predator, but thenew report, to be published in the Royal Society journal BiologyLetters on November 29 reveals some compelling details about the marinepredator: the force of its bite was remarkably powerful: 11,000 pounds,at an incredible force of 80,000 pounds per square inch. Even moresurprising for the researchers was how fast the fish was. Dunkleosteusterrelli could open its mouth very quickly – in just one fiftieth of asecond – which created a strong suction force, pulling fast prey intoits mouth. With both a powerful bite and a fast bite, this predator wasnot something to escape from.
“The most interesting part of this work for me was discovering thatthis heavily armored fish was both fast during jaw opening and quitepowerful during jaw closing,” said Mark Westneat, Curator of Fishes atThe Field Museum and co-author of the paper. “This is possible due tothe unique engineering design of its skull and different muscles usedfor opening and closing. And it made this fish into one of the firsttrue apex predators seen in the vertebrate fossil record.”
