Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus placoderm fish that lived in North America, Poland, Belgium, and Morocco during the Late Devonian period around 358-382 million years ago.
In River Monsters[]
Prehistoric Terror[]
Jeremy Wade considers Dunkleosteus as possibly being the "greatest River Monster to ever live." He notes its uniqueness as a placoderm, an ancient lineage of fish with bony armor that are not represented by any living species today. He also notes that Dunkleosteus would have had an incredibly powerful bite. However, he considers a genus of Rhizodont to be the "ultimate River Monster" of Prehistory.
Description[]
Dunkleosteus had a bony head and plates of bone in its mouth that would have acted as teeth. Dunkleosteus is known almost entirely from bones situated around the region of its head. Using its much smaller, and, therefore, much better preserved relative, Coccosteus, a maximum size of just under 30 feet can be established for the largest Dunkleosteus specimens. However, since these estimates are merely comparisons between Dunkleosteus and a related genus, it is possible that they are off, perhaps even by several feet.