Terrifying 13ft ‘alien monster’ fish with armored skull prowled oceans 360million years ago – and proof is in US lake
SCIENTISTS have uncovered new facts about a giant “alien fish” that was found in a U.S. lake.
The Dunkleosteus is one of the largest fish on record and is thought to have roamed the ocean 360million years ago.
Evidence of the large creature and its terrifying armored skull was once found in Lake Erie near Cleveland.
The sea monster was once thought to be around 30 feet long.
However, a new study investigating the formidable fish suggests it was a bit smaller at just 13 feet.
The average male great white shark is said to grow to around 13 feet as well.
The Dunkleosteus terrelli fish has been nicknamed “Dunk”.
According to Live Science, it lived around 419 million to 358 million years ago.
It’s thought to have prowled oceans that used to cover the modern day U.S.
With a huge jaw that could snap shut with 8,000 pounds of force, the fish would still have been a major predator at the time even if it was a bit smaller than scientists initially thought.
The fish has been compared to the title character in the film “Alien” due to it’s creepy looks.
It contained both bone and cartilage, unlike modern fish which have one or the other.
It’s boney skull helped the fish to be fossilized and preserved in time.
Russell Engelman, a doctoral student at Case Western University in Cleveland, told Live Science how he investigated the measurements of the Dunkleosteus.
He saw a Dunk skull at Cleveland Museum of Natural History and thought something didn’t add up.
His investigation led to other scientists agreeing with the new measurements that mean the monster fish was likely smaller than first thought.
Engelman told Live Science: “I went back through the literature, and it turned out that most previous authors who had talked about this were basically just eyeballing it.”
His study was recently published in the journal Diversity.