Dunkleosteus

“	That's like a real leviathan there!	”
– Sea Monsters, Dangerous Seas

Dunkleosteus was a large, predatory placoderm from the Devonian. It was a heavily armoured fish and was the largest predator in its ecosystem.

Creature attributes[]

Physical appearance and biology[]

Dunkleosteus was a massive animal, measuring over 30 feet long and weighing at least 5 tons. It had a thick and withstanding armour plated head. The rest of its body was bare flesh. Its jaws were powerful and were lined with teeth-like bony plates which were used to shear off chunks of meat and to crush bone. Dunkleosteus also had large, blue eyes.

Dunkleosteus had two pairs of large and powerful fins. On its back was a short albeit long-running dorsal fin.

Behaviour and traits[]

Dunkleosteus was a titanic predator, the largest predator in the Devonian in fact. What made it so powerful were its protective armour plating and its powerful jaws which contained several, teeth-like bony plates. These plates were used to grind and shear off pieces of flesh.

Because of its strong jaws, Dunkleosteus could bite through armour plating as strong as chainmail. However, they couldn't digest those parts and would regurgitate the plates as well as any other inedible parts of its prey's anatomy.

Due to the other lethal competition in the Devonian seas, Dunkleosteus would kill anything that got in its way. This even included its own kind. As a result, Dunkleosteus were often cannibalistic.

In Sea Monsters[]

Dunkleosteus is one of the animals on Nigel Marven's Time map.

Dangerous Seas[]

Mike, a crew member of The Ancient Mariner, performed a reconnaissance dive and apparently, he had struck gold on the first attempt. He later returned with the footage and showed the content to the rest of the crew. The recording was of a large female Dunkleosteus.

When a Stethacanthus was attacking a shark cage which contained Nigel Marven, a Dunkleosteus appeared and scared off the shark. The Dunkleosteus approached the shark cage and Nigel and circled

SM1x2 DunkleosteusSwimmingToCage — A *Dunkleosteus* swimming towards a shark cage. (*Sea Monsters*)

them. As Nigel tempted the predator with a dead Bothriolepis wrapped in chainmail, the placoderm's attacks became more numerous and more ferocious.

As the Dunkleosteus began to knock the cage with its body, Nigel remained calm. Then, the fish swam towards the cage at full acceleration.

Into the Jaws of Death[]

Continuing from the previous episode, the Dunkleosteus bashed the cage with tremendous force. Once again, Nigel offered the fish with the Bothriolepis. However, this time the Dunkleosteus managed to catch the bait and nearly ripped his arm out of its socket.

As the Dunkleosteus swam away, it began to grind up the bait as well as the chainmail cover. The leftovers that the carnivore dropped onto the seabed.

SM1x2 BabyDunkleosteus — A baby *Dunkleosteus*. (*Sea Monsters*)

Subsequently, a juvenile Dunkleosteus approached the scraps and began to feed on them. But, then, suddenly, the adult Dunkleosteus appeared and ate the baby whole. The placodern then regurgitated the armour and chainmail. The carnivore then swam off.