In fact, the only animal that poses a threat to an adult great white is the killer whale, but to do this requires an entire colony of killer whales.
However, in the past, our planet also possessed a fish large enough and strong enough to bite a great white shark in half.
Dunkleosteus terrelli is an extinct species of fish in the genus Dunkleosteus. All 10 species of this genus are identified by their large jaws and sturdy bodies like armored chariots, but Dunkleosteus terrelli is the most prominent of them all. It is the largest species of the genus and one of the largest armored fish ever discovered by man.
Although there are different information about the size of this primitive animal, we can say that it was about 8.8 to 10 meters long. Dunkleosteus terrelli also weighed almost 4 tons, making it one of the largest fish that ever existed. This giant fish is classified as placoderm, a group of prehistoric placoderms.
In 1956, Dunkleosteus was named in honor of David Dunkle, an American paleontologist. Dunkleosteus combines the word “Dunkle” and the Greek word “ὀστέον” which means “bone”.
David Dunkle worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and later at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, where his work in the study of fish fossils brought him to fame.
The discovered fossils show that Dunkleosteus terrelli lived in many parts of Europe and the United States. Some of the states where the fossils were found include Ohio, Tennessee, California, Texas and Pennsylvania. In addition, many other states in the US, including New York, Washington and Illinois also have Dunkleosteus terrelli fossils on display.
This species is thought to have inhabited shallow water as a child and migrate to deep sea locations as an adult. This is a trait shared by other fish in the placoderm classification.
Although scientists believe Dunkleosteus terrelli was a powerful swimmer, its heavy armor would make it sluggish. However, it is worth noting that many other schist or armored fish have adapted to swimming rapidly on the surface and ocean floor. So, although we can make an estimate based on some available data, it is possible that Dunkleosteus terrelli was a strong and agile swimmer.
Without strong swimming power, it will starve to death due to its inability to hunt the large prey it eats. When young, Dunkleosteus terrelli would hunt small sharks. But as it matures, its diet expands and its prey grows larger. Research shows that its jaws become stronger and wider with age, which increases its ability to hunt.
Adult Dunkleosteus terrelli hunts large prey such as ammonites and even other placoderms. However, scientists believe that it did not digest the bones of these animals but vomited it up.
Like many fish today, Dunkleosteus terrelli had no typical teeth. Instead, it has four sharp bony plates, arranged in double groups. These plates will “sharpen” against each other, acting as a self-sharpening mechanism. Together, they look like fangs and can tear their prey to pieces.
Due to the structure of its teeth, Dunkleosteus terrelli can open its mouth very quickly and grip its prey with great force. In addition, many research scientists, such as Philip SL Anderson and Mark W. Westneat, believe there is a connection between the way Dunkleosteus terrelli ate and how today’s foragers function.
According to a paper published by both researchers, this giant fish has a highly kinetic skull that operates with a four-bar linkage mechanism. This allowed Dunkleosteus terrelli to open his jaws rapidly, leading to a period of rapid expansion commonly seen in modern suckers.
Studies estimate that Dunkleosteus terrelli has the same bite force in its body mass (that is, nearly 4 tons) per square inch at the tips of its canines. But that’s not all: some parts of its jaws have a bite force of approximately 40 tons per square inch.
This is far superior to the bite force of the saltwater crocodile, which is known as the animal with the strongest bite force of any living creature in existence – the bite force of the saltwater crocodile is known. limit at 1.6 tons per square inch, which is less than half the bite force of Dunkleosteus terrelli.
With this bite force, you might wonder, “can Dunkleosteus terrelli defeat a great white shark?”. According to experts, it is possible.
Mark Westneat is one of the curators of fish species at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois – one of the museums displaying the Dunkleosteus terrelli fossil. In an interview with Live Science, he said he believes a Dunkleosteus terrelli could have beaten a great white shark up to 6 meters long. His belief is based on a model of a shark’s jaws made by him and Philip Anderson, the project leader.
Anderson, who works in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, also claims that Dunkleosteus terrelli destroyed everything in its environment. Many scientists and paleontologists consider Dunkleosteus terrelli to be the apex predator, which aptly describes its power. It was one of the first predators and remained so until extinction.
Sadly, Dunkleosteus terrelli went extinct about 359 million years ago. It did not become extinct by the impact of any species but was influenced by the mass extinction caused by the Hangenberg Event. The Hangenberg event caused oxygen levels in the sea to plummet and wiped out more than 70% of all species on Earth.