In fact, the only animal that poses a threat to an adult great white shark is the killer whale, but to do this, an entire pod of killer whales is needed.

However, in the past, our planet also possessed a species of fish large enough and strong enough to bite a great white shark in half.

Dunkleosteus terrelli is an extinct species of fish in the genus Dunkleosteus. All 10 species of this genus are identified by their large jaws and bodies as sturdy as armored vehicles, but Dunkleosteus terrelli is the most prominent of them all. This is the largest species in the genus and one of the largest armored fish ever discovered by humans.

Although there are different information about how big this primitive animal was, we can say that it was about 8.8 to 10 meters long. Dunkleosteus terrelli also weighed nearly 4 tons, making it one of the largest fish to ever exist. This giant fish is classified as a placoderm, a group of prehistoric placoderms.

In 1956, Dunkleosteus was named in honor of David Dunkle, an American paleontologist. Dunkleosteus combines the word “Dunkle” and the Greek word “ὀστέον” meaning “bone”.

David Dunkle worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and then at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, where his work on fish fossils made him widely known.

Discovered fossils show that Dunkleosteus terrelli lived in many places in Europe and the United States. Some of the states where fossils have been found include Ohio, Tennessee, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In addition, many other states in the US, including New York, Washington and Illinois also have Dunkleosteus terrelli fossils on display.

The species is believed to have inhabited shallow waters as juveniles and migrated to deep-sea locations as adults. This is a trait shared by other fish in the class of placoderms.

Although scientists believe Dunkleosteus terrelli was a strong swimmer, its heavy armor would have made it slow. It is worth noting, however, that many other species of placoderms or armored fish have adapted to swimming rapidly on the surface and bottom of the ocean. So, although we can make an estimate based on some of the available facts, it is likely that Dunkleosteus terrelli was a strong and agile swimmer.

Without its strong swimming powers, it would starve to death due to its inability to hunt the large prey it eats. When young, Dunkleosteus terrelli will hunt small sharks. But as it matures, its diet expands and its prey gets larger. Research shows that its jaws become stronger and wider with age, which increases its hunting ability.

Adult Dunkleosteus terrelli hunt large prey such as ammonites and even other placoderms. However, scientists believe that it does not digest the bones of these animals but vomits them.

Like many fish species today, Dunkleosteus terrelli does not have typical teeth. Instead, it has four sharp bone plates, arranged in groups of two. These plates will “grind” against each other, acting as a self-sharpening mechanism. Together, they look like fangs and can tear their prey to pieces.

Due to the structure of its teeth, Dunkleosteus terrelli can open its mouth very quickly and grip its prey with great force. Additionally, many research scientists, such as Philip S. L. Anderson and Mark W. Westneat, believe that there is a connection between how Dunkleosteus terrelli fed and how modern-day feeders function.

According to a paper published by both researchers, this giant fish has a highly kinematic skull that operates with a four-bar linkage mechanism. This allows Dunkleosteus terrelli to open its jaws rapidly, leading to a period of rapid expansion often seen in modern sucker fishes.

Studies estimate that Dunkleosteus terrelli has a bite force equivalent to its body mass (nearly 4 tons) per square inch at the tips of its canine teeth. But that’s not all: certain parts of its jaw have a bite force of approximately 40 tons per square inch.

This is far superior to the bite force of the saltwater crocodile, which is known to have the strongest bite force of any living creature in existence – the bite force of the saltwater crocodile is limited to limited to 1.6 tons per square inch, which is less than half the bite force of Dunkleosteus terrelli.

With this bite force, you may wonder, “could Dunkleosteus terrelli defeat a great white shark?”. According to experts, it probably has.

Mark Westneat is one of the curators of fishes at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois – one of the museums that displays the Dunkleosteus terrelli fossil. In an interview with Live Science, he said he believes a Dunkleosteus terrelli could have defeated a great white shark up to 6 meters long. His belief is based on a model of a shark’s jaw made by him and Philip Anderson, the project leader.

Anderson, who worked in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, also claimed that Dunkleosteus terrelli destroyed everything in its environment. Many scientists and paleontologists consider Dunkleosteus terrelli to be an apex predator, which aptly describes its power. It was one of the first predators and remained so until its extinction.

Sadly, Dunkleosteus terrelli became extinct about 359 million years ago. It did not become extinct due to the impact of any one species, but rather suffered from the mass extinction caused by the Hangenberg Event. The Hangenberg Event caused oxygen levels in the sea to plummet and wiped out more than 70% of all species on Earth.