It was big. It was mean. And it could bite a shark in two.Whoa.Scientists say Dunkleosteus terrelli might have been "the first king of the beasts." The prehistoric fish was 33 feet long and weighed up to four tons. It had bladed jaws, a flesh-tearing feature that the sharks it preyed upon had not yet developed.
Now scientists have learned Dunkleosteus had the most powerful jaws of any fish ever, its bite rivaling that of T. rex and modern alligators.
The creature lived 400 million years ago.
"Dunkleosteus was able to devour anything in its environment," said study leader Philip Anderson, at the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago.
Fast and powerful
Scientists already knew Dunkleosteus was the dominant predator of its time.
But Anderson and Mark Westneat, Curator of Fishes at the Field Museum in Chicago, used a fossil of the creature [image] to make a computer model of its muscles and its bite. They conclude that could chomp with 1,100 pounds of force, which translates to 8,000 pounds per square inch at the tip of a fang.
And it was quick, opening its jaws in just one fiftieth of a second. That action would have created suction to draw prey into its mouth.
"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." — Groucho Marx
More Powerful than a Great White Shark
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Not Quite Abandoned
I didn't think it had been as many months away from here as it has clearly been. I was certain I had updated this place in December and ...
-
If you want to see how thoughts, ideas and impressions can be manipulated by the media take a few minutes to watch Pallywood .
-
***Third Update- I encourage you to also check out : How Many Blogs Do You Read? A question for those who choose to answer. How did you com...
-
In concept I am a big believer in giving people freedom to live their lives and do what they are going to do with the caveat that the limits...
4 comments:
That thing is SCARY looking!! Yeepers!
one awesome fish!
Sounds like a lot of ex-wives I've heard about.
Richmond,
That is what I thought.
LL,
Oh yes.
Amishav,
;)
Post a Comment