The Powerful Bite of the Dunkleosteus
Posted on December 1, 2006
400 million years ago there lived a huge fish with an extremely powerful bite. The BBC reports that the bite of the 10-meter long Dunkleosteus terrelli could exert a force of 5,000 Newtons on its prey.
The bite ranks Dunkleosteus' bite-force higher than all modern fishes and among some of the most powerful animal bites. The T. rex had a bite force of 13,000 Newtons (3,000lbs-force).
Westneat, who is curator of fish at The Field Museum in Chicago, told the BBC, "This heavily armoured fish was both fast during jaw opening and quite powerful during jaw closing. "This is possible due to the unique engineering design of its skull and different muscles used for opening and closing."
The Dunkleosteus could also open its mouth amazingly quickly -- in "one fiftieth of a second" according to the BBC. With that speed the ancient fish was also able to suck small prey into its mouth. With this "tractor beam" effect and the poweful snap of its jaws Dunkleosteus was likely a fierce ocean predator.
Dunkleosteus may have needed the powerful bite to break through the hard shells found on crustaceans and the bony covering protecting some fish that lived with Dunkleosteus 400 million years ago. The information about the Dunkleosteus was first published in the journal, Biology Letter.
Image: Michael LaBarbera, courtesy of The Field Museum