Dunkleosteus terrelli was a huge armored fish that lived during the Late Devonian Period, approximately 360 million years ago. “The Dunk”, as it is affectionately known, is the official state fossil fish of Ohio and its bony remains may be found in the black shales near Cleveland, Ohio.
In 2024, I was given the opportunity to illustrate Dunkleosteus and some of its co-occurring fauna for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological Survey. The artwork is an informal sequel to the Life in Ancient Ohio poster series and was rendered with a similar style.
The fauna includes:
- Angustidontus gracilis (crustacean)
- Callixylon sp. (driftwood log)
- Cladoselache fyleri (stem chondrichthyan “sharks”)
- Concavicaris cf. bradleyi (thylacocephalan crustacean)
- Dunkleosteus terrelli (arthrodire placoderm fish)
- Kentuckia hlavini (bony fish)
- Melocrinus cf. bainbridgensis (crinoids, encrusting log)
- Orbiculoidea herzeri (brachiopods, encrusting log)
- Pleuroclymenia ohioense (ammonoid cephalopods)
- Tasmanites sp. (algae)
- Tegeolepis clarki (bony fish)
- Titanichthys sp. (placoderm fish)
- Anonymous conodonts
- Anonymous coronate medusa
- Anonymous ctenophore (similar to Paleoctenophora)
- Anonymous leptomedusan medusa
- Anonymous macroalgae
- Anonymous orthoceratid cephalopods
See this ODNR information page for more info about Dunkleosteus!