The Devonian Period is the fourth era of the Paleozoic Era, also known as the "Age of Fishes". In the oceans, rivers and lakes of this era, countless fish-like animals, sharks and lungs roamed Fish were born in this era. Below we will reveal to you the top ten most terrifying creatures in the Devonian period. Who was the most terrifying existence at that time? We will also analyze the causes of the mass extinction of organisms in the Devonian period.

Business card of the Devonian geological era

Earth business card:

Starting and ending time: 420 million years ago? 360 million years ago

Continued Time: 60 million years

Ratio of animals that died during the Devonian mass extinction: 72

The top ten most terrifying creatures of the Devonian: Dunkleosteus, sea salamander, lungfish, Titus Talik fish, dino fish, coelacanth, corner stone, land killer scorpion, thunder scorpion, pectoralis shark (listed in no particular order) Dunkleosteus - a veritable Devonian overlord creature

About 360 million years ago, it was not the great white shark that dominated the oceans, but the giant Dunkleosteus fish, which was as big as a bus. This giant prehistoric fish opens its mouth so wide that even the most ferocious great white shark can only retreat.

Dunkleosteus belongs to the class Placoderms and is covered with scutes all over its body. Anderson, a researcher at the University of Chicago, and Wesney, an expert at the Chicago Museum of Natural History, used computers to simulate the skull of Dunkleosteus and discovered that there was a reason why this giant fish dominated the prehistoric oceans.

Its head muscles are quite developed and have excellent coordination with the joints. It can bite instantly within one-fiftieth of a second. It is incredibly powerful. The powerful suction force it generates makes the unlucky prey die obediently. Son. The sharp teeth in Dunkleosteus's mouth are also its deadly weapons. The teeth of this fish are the most ferocious marine creatures known to mankind.

At the moment when its teeth are closed, all the force will be concentrated in a very small area at the front of the teeth, which can produce up to 5,600 kilograms of biting force per square centimeter. Under normal circumstances, when a woman weighing 63 kilograms steps on her husband's feet wearing high-heeled shoes with a heel of 0.5 centimeters, the pressure generated is 127 kilograms per square centimeter.

Among the creatures still alive, the American crocodile has the most powerful bite force, which can reach 963 kilograms, but this is nothing compared to Dunkleosteus. Some other animals, such as humans, have a bite force of 77 kilograms, while dogs have a bite force of only 57 kilograms.

However, Dunkleosteus lacks real teeth, and instead has long, rugged blades that are twisted together, which can bite and crush almost any marine creature. Dunkleosteus is not particular about its food, and does not recognize any of its relatives when it eats. It eats fish, thoracic sharks, and even its own relatives. It is simply sad and crazy. On the next page, more of the ten most terrifying creatures of the Devonian period are waiting for you to discover. Hainaa salamander

Hainaa salamander evolved from lobe-finned fish, with an average body length of about 1.5 meters. It is an amphibious animal. They can migrate on land and escape predators in the water.

Haina’s salamander, also known as Haina’s beast, is a carnivorous quadruped that lived in the Devonian period. It was a creature before the appearance of dinosaurs. After a long period of evolution, it became An amphibian with lungs, it evolved from a fish on the sea floor. The sea salamander has a flat head, sharp teeth that have become very sharp after long-term evolution, a brain with memory function like humans, and breathing lungs like land animals, which are used for blood circulation and systemic circulation. Oxygen required by the system. The fish-like fins have been replaced by developed limbs. This is such an animal. It is the second species among the ten most terrifying creatures of the Devonian Period that is suspected to be the ancestor of humans.

These ancient waterfront amphibians are thought to have evolved from sarcopterygians; their fins evolved into fleshy limbs and their swim bladders evolved into lungs. However, there is insufficient fossil evidence to confirm whether Hainana salamander is the common ancestor of all subsequent land vertebrates.

The close relatives of Hainamanthus discovered so far include Ichthyosaurus and Acanthus salamander, which are both amphibians. Lungfish

Lungfish is a prehistoric predatory fish that lived in the Devonian Period 360 million years ago. They are approximately 4 meters long[1] and weigh up to 2 tons. Their skeletons show they had strong fins and could have walked onto land and eaten land creatures.

The lungfish has very developed lungs. Even in an environment without water, it can still survive for a long time. In addition, the fins are quite developed and have strong muscles, just like it. The legs are the same. But although he is very powerful, he is still no match for Dunkleosteus. Tiktaalik - suspected to be an ancestor of humans

Tiktaalik, like other predatory animals of the same period, is larger in size. The smallest one can be 3 feet (about 0.9 meters) long, while the larger The Tiktaalik fish can grow up to 9 feet (about 2.7 meters). They had a row of teeth for hunting, a flat head, and eyes on the top of their head, which were a bit like our crocodiles today.

There is also a stomata structure above the head of Tiktaalik for breathing, indicating that they have lungs that function like gills. Tiktaalik's fins already had primitive wrist bones and simple phalanges. Although these bones did not have the same walking function as today's quadrupeds, they could still be used to support the body and move the body.

Tiktaalik belongs to the Sarcopterygian class, and its closest relatives today are the coelacanth and lungfish, which are also very ancient.

Some people have suggested that we humans are the direct descendants of Tiktaalik, but this view has not received a definite answer and needs further discussion and research by scientists and us. Dinosauria - the dominant fish of the ancient ocean

One of the dominant fishes that flourished during the Devonian period, Dinosaurus was a common placoderm fish in the Devonian and was the top predator in this waters at that time. who. Its head and chest are covered with a layer of hard bone armor, and the sharp bone plates in its mouth are exposed domineeringly.

In the ancient ocean 360 million years ago, the 10-meter-long dinosaur was a giant. Its head and the front of its torso are covered with thick armor, which can be up to 3 meters long. The strong bony plates of the upper and lower jaws form sharp scissor-like blades. It is difficult for any other fish caught by the phoenix to escape the fate of being eaten. Coelacanth - a monogamous fish

Coelacanth first appeared in the middle Devonian period and was once thought to have become extinct 60 million years ago. However, in 1938, a fishing net caught one Only living coelacanth. This fish uses their strange fins to walk on the ocean floor. Coelacanth now gives people another surprise: they are monogamous every time they reproduce, which is extremely unusual for fish.

Coelacanth usually lives in water depths greater than 100 meters. Coelacanths like to live in areas with stable conditions deep in the Indian Ocean, hiding in holes during the day and hunting at night.

The coelacanth is different from other fish. The coelacanth has fins like limbs. Therefore, paleontologists suspect that the coelacanth is the ancestor of the terrestrial tetrapods. In addition, the coelacanth is one of the living creatures that once roamed the water and on land with the dinosaurs. Some of the physiological and ecological behavioral patterns of the coelacanth may help people speculate on some ecological environments during the dinosaur era. Therefore, when the coelacanth was discovered The scientific community went crazy when it came to fish.

Coelacanths have existed 400 million years ago and have remained essentially unchanged over time. Surprisingly, females invest a lot of energy into producing offspring. Females may remain pregnant for about three years, which is quite rare in the animal kingdom. The fully formed fry then enter the world weighing about 500 grams. At the end of pregnancy, females are very heavy, with a pregnant female weighing nearly 100 kilograms. One thing is particularly surprising. After inspection, it was found that the female fish had only mated with one male fish. This means that in a single breeding, all the larvae come from the same father. Saud, a researcher at the University of Würzburg, said that for other fish, such as guppies and swordtails, they mate with multiple males to maximize the genetic diversity and survival prospects of their offspring. Therefore, the coelacanth's "one-father policy" that has remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years is surprising.

The coelacanth's monogamy is not lifelong, but for each reproduction, which can be called serial monogamy.

The coelacanth remains an interesting subject of animal research because it predates the lungfish and has changed little. Cornerstone

Scientists believe that Cornerstone was one of the largest creatures in the Paleozoic Era and one of the largest of the ten most terrifying creatures in the Devonian Period. It was also a top-notch deep-sea creature that fed on horseshoe crabs. Predators, they lived in the Devonian period.

According to fossil data, the length of the huge corner stone is about (9 meters), but the accuracy of this estimate is still controversial. Even so, the cornerstone remains one of the most massive creatures of the Paleozoic era.

The cornerstone remains one of the most massive creatures of the Paleozoic era. Judging from its huge body, Cornerstone is an apex predator that lives in the deep sea (they may not be able to move their bodies in shallow seas) and may feed on eury-winged horseshoe crabs (such as giant horseshoe crabs). Terrestrial killer scorpion

English: P. kirktonensis, the translation in Latin is breathing scorpion, another ancient scorpion species, they live on land, their body length can reach 60 cm, and they live in about 400 million During the Devonian period years ago, it was likely that it fed on small arthropods and insects, and its sting was enough to kill some animals. Thunder Scorpion

Thunder Scorpion, also known as Brondeau Scorpion, is a 1 meter long aquatic scorpion according to fossils. Thunder scorpions were like today's scorpions, but were larger and had larger compound eyes. They were an important predator for the large animals that existed at that time.

Whether it is escaping predators or chasing prey, thunder scorpions can be found not only in the water, but also on the ground. However, since they have difficulty supporting their weight, they spend most of their time in the water. They prey on small marine animals, such as fish, acanthids, heterophylla, tiny scorpions and trilobites.

The Thunder Scorpion appears in "Walking with Behemoths" and hunts the turtle, but is eaten by the horseshoe crab. The following will reveal the last of the ten most terrifying creatures in the Devonian period, as well as the reason for the extinction of marine life at that time: the thoracic shark. The ancestors lived from the late Devonian to the early Carboniferous about 360 million years ago. They are now extinct. The earliest fossils are found in Europe and North America.

The thoracic shark was about 70 to 200 centimeters long and looked like today's sharks. Their dorsal fin is very special, shaped like an anvil, but is only found on males. Scientists estimate that it serves a courtship function. Their heads and dorsal fins were covered with tiny spines, which looked like enlarged versions of the shield scales of today's sharks.

Its diet includes fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. Natural enemies are lungfish and Dunkleosteus.

In addition to the top ten terrifying creatures of the Devonian period, there were also many marine creatures such as groove-scaled fish, primitive scaled wood, lobe-finned fish, and terrestrial creatures. Now it’s time to uncover why the Devonian creatures became extinct. Causes of the Devonian mass extinction

Due to the inability to verify detailed information on the late Devonian extinction event, scientists have speculated on possible causes, including global climate change, volcanic eruptions, sea level changes, anoxia, etc. The reason, the more convincing of which is the lack of oxygen in the ocean.

Scientists say that during the same period of this extinction event, there was also a large-scale decrease in ocean oxygen content. Sedimentary records also indicate that there was climate change in the late Devonian period, which directly led to the extinction of some organisms. , because due to the lack of oxygen, the degradation rate of some organic matter is slowed down, making it easier to preserve. In addition, porous reefs are inherently easy to preserve oil, making the Devonian strata an important source of oil extraction in the United States. This is even more true, and many biological fossils from the Devonian period have also been discovered in the United States.

The animal species that became extinct during the Devonian period include: Brachiopods, trilobites, ammonoids, conodonts, jawless superclasses and cynozoids, as well as all placoderms. However, terrestrial and freshwater organisms are less affected.