Ancient Superpredator Stalked Prehistoric Sharks

About 364 million years ago, an ancient predator stalked the waters of present-day Erie, which were once part of the ocean. It consumed massive sharks, able to suck them into its mouth by the force of opening its jaws. Now, geologist Scott McKenzie is hoping to recover the fossilized bones of this massive beast.

The powerful prehistoric fish is known as Dunkleosteus. The current specimen's remains are embedded in sandy shale in an Erie county location that the geologist cannot reveal due to an agreement with the private property owners. Each year, he and his team check on the remains, hoping to see more of the bones unearthed after spring rains wash away snow cover.

"We're restricted to surface collection. The landowners don't want a significant hole dug on the land," said McKenzie in an interview with Fox News. In addition, any digging could damage the fossils.

The fish itself was named after the late David Dunkle, one of the Cleveland museum's former curators. The creature ranged between 15 to 30 feet in length, and could have weighed up to four tons. The current specimen is much smaller than the maximum size, though. It probably wasn't even a full-grown adult. Even so, the creature was still probably between 15 to 25 feet long and weighed about one ton.

Despite its size and the power of its jaws, though, this fish didn't have fully developed teeth. Instead, it possessed two razor-sharp jawbones that allowed it to snap prehistoric sharks in half.

While it may be years before McKenzie fully unearths the full fossil, he has already shown off the pieces that he has collected. Recently, he displayed the fossils in a video. Want to see them? Check it out below, originally appearing here.