Dunkleosteus: The Giant Armored Predator of the Devonian Seas

Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus: A fish story 360 million years in the making

Shrunk Dunk Until this year Dunkleosteus was said to have been 30’ long and weighed over 4 tons. These estimates were derived based on, well, guestimates based on the presumption it was big and long based on its giant skull. As the non-skull parts consisted of cartilage, they simply haven’t been preserved, so speculation reigned supreme. In 2023 Russell Engelman used a novel approach to sizing fish. Since he had lots of skulls preserved, he wondered if certain measurements could predict size. He