A fish with a bite force greater than that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex can eat you like a cookie

In the vast universe, the Earth is unique because of the existence of life. 70% of the Earth is covered by the ocean, which is the cradle of life. When it comes to marine life, most people first think of fish. The protagonist of our story today is also a fish, and it is an extinct giant fish: Dunkleosteus.

A cast of the armored head of Dunkleosteus, found in Cleveland, USA | Travis / Flickr

Monsters of the Fish Age

However, although it is called a fish, Dunkleosteus is completely different from the fish that most of us have in mind. In the impression of many people, the most typical fish is boiled fish or pickled fish... No, it is crucian carp or shark, which respectively represent the two most representative groups of living fish: bony fish and cartilaginous fish.

In the rivers, lakes and oceans of the Devonian period, there lived all kinds of "fish", such as armored fish, placoderms, spiny fish, etc. If these strange-looking guys gathered together, it would really give people a dazzling feeling. The earth at that time was also called the "Age of Fishes", and Dunkleosteus could be said to be the well-deserved "dominant" among placoderms.

Cephalaspis covered in a bizarre carapace, by Robert Chambers | Wikimedia Commons

Anyone who has seen the Dunkleosteus fossils will definitely remember its huge head, a face so fierce and powerful: the head and part of the trunk are covered by several thick bone plates, like a devil's helmet, with an impeccable defense, which is why the group to which Dunkleosteus belongs is called placoderms. There are some gaps between the bone plates on the head and chest, which were connected by soft tissue when it was alive, allowing this big head to move more flexibly.

There are several "teeth" at the front of the big mouth, which are not real teeth, but extensions of the bone plates at the front of the upper and lower jaws. Some people think that every time the big mouth opens and closes, the bone plates at the front will rub against each other, making these "big teeth" extremely sharp. If this giant fish were still alive, just looking at you would give you chills. The ocean at that time might have been like a huge buffet in the eyes of Dunkleosteus, and the most headache for it every day was choosing what to eat today.

Dunkleosteus fossil, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology | IJReid / Wikimedia Commons

How fierce are big fish?

Our knowledge of Dunkleosteus comes only from its large head, part of its trunk and a small part of its pectoral fins. No fossils of the back half of its body have been found. Paleontologists estimate that Dunkleosteus may be 5-8 meters long and weigh 3.5-4 tons. Perhaps only when more fossil evidence is discovered will we know how big and heavy Dunkleosteus was.

Many marketing accounts and street literature will write about how fierce the Dunkleosteus was; its bite force was XX times that of the Tyrannosaurus Rex (or perhaps other more famous animals); if it were alive today, it would have swept the ocean; sharks are nothing but scum with a combat power of only 5 in front of the Dunkleosteus, etc...

A reconstruction of a Dunkleosteus compared to a human | Tim Bertelink / Wikimedia Commons

To be honest, some paleontologists have studied fossils to restore the muscle tissue of the head of Dunkleosteus, and the data obtained from tests show that Dunkleosteus had a terrible bite force. A 2017 study speculated that the bite force at the front end of the bone plate "teeth" could reach 6,000 Newtons. Maybe everyone has no idea about boring numbers, we can refer to: the bite force of the Blue Star Wastewood Biped is about 1,000 Newtons, the bite force of the largest living crocodile, the saltwater crocodile, is about 16,000 Newtons, and the great white shark has 18,000 Newtons (estimated values ​​rather than actual values), and the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was far behind the Dunkleosteus, can reach 57,000 Newtons.

In addition, some relatively new research results, based on the fossils of a small part of the pectoral fin of Dunkleosteus and the speculation on the shape of the tail fin, believe that although Dunkleosteus was huge, it was a fast-moving predator rather than a bulky "meat tank". In this way, this "strange fish" is even more frightening.

Of course, different testing methods may affect the values, and the speculations based on paleontology based on fossils may have greater errors. These data are for entertainment reference only.

Dan Erickson's model of the Dunkleosteus, housed in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History | Tim Evanson / Wikimedia Commons

However, the competitiveness and adaptability of an animal must be measured from many aspects, which cannot be reflected by bite force alone, so this kind of ranking should only be treated as after-dinner entertainment and should not be taken seriously.

Let Guan Gong and Qin Qiong go.

The physical characteristics of a species are affected by the environment in which it lives, and the performance of adapting to the environment is not for "fighting" or "competing" with another species. The same is true for Dunkleosteus. Its body structure is completely adapted to the marine environment at that time, and it does not need to compete with species in different periods. Maybe Dunkleosteus appears to be outstanding in some data, but this comparison is like Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong. Even if Guan Yu is a good fighter, if I drive a tank over, Guan Erye will probably have to surrender. From this perspective, in fact, every species is a strong one. In order to adapt to the environment, they have evolved various "unique skills" and survived the harsh natural competition.

Great White Shark, Helicoprion and Dunkleosteus | RobinGoodfellow_(m) / Flickr

Placoderms, represented by Dunkleosteus, flourished in the Devonian period and developed into many species that adapted to various ecological niches, such as the scaly fish that could use its pectoral fins to maintain its balance at the bottom of the water, and the giant fish that was also huge but lived a filter-feeding life. However, in the mass extinction event at the end of the Devonian period 370 million years ago, placoderms quietly left the stage of Earth history and all became extinct.

The moon waxes and wanes, and although the armored fish became extinct, several other fish took over the baton from their fins and continued on the road of evolution, not only conquering the ocean but also heading towards land. Every species in nature is telling us: life never stops!