PlacodermReconstructions

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-- Wikimedia Commons Welcome (talk) 02:10, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

Why Coccosteus shouldn't be the go-to comparison for Dunkleosteus reconstructions

1. Coccosteus has a different niche, ecology, and lifestyle to Dunkleosteus. According to this publication, Dunkleosteus was a pelagic organism, and an actively-swimming one at that, according to this publication from 2017. It could probably pursue its prey. Coccosteus on the other hand, was, albeit capable of free-swimming, inhibited demersal habits by ambush hunting from the sea floor, too. It was also incredibly tiny, at less than a foot long. Even an adult Coccosteus would be an easy snack for even a juvenile Dunkleosteus.

2. The two are from different clades. Coccosteus hails from Coccosteomorphi, while Dunkleosteus hails from the clade Pachysteomorphi. If anything, Coccosteus is closer related to Coccosteomorphs like Plourdosteus and Incisoscutum than the Pachysteomorphs like Dunkleosteus and Titanichthys.

3. We have better references. As of the time I'm typing this, we now have a magnificently preserved selenosteid from Morocco named the genus "Amazichthys". It has fins preserved, including a lunate, heterocercal caudal fin (the tail), and a larger dorsal fin than once thought for arthrodires. Amazichthys is believed to have been an active swimmer, and a high-speed predator, or a pursuit predator, making Amazichthys a way better comparison to Dunkleosteus, morphologically, and ecologically, than Coccosteus is. Amazichthys is also closer in phylogenetic relation to the mighty Dunk, as it's in the sister group to Dunkleosteiodea, Aspinothoracidi.

Conclusion: Dunkleosteus reconstructions don't have to end up like this, and they shouldn't, unless you purposefully want an inaccurate depiction for the fun of it. That, I'm okay with. But if you want to make scientifically accurate Dunkleosteus, or at least accurate to what we know, then publications like the ones I found, and comparisons to Amazichthys should give you a good clue as to Dunkleosteus's ecology, and morphology really was. Also, are you surprised that an arthrodire with similar ecology to Dunkleosteus has a caudal fin similar to what was predicted for Dunkleosteus in a publication published on December 6th, 2017, almost 5 years ago? PlacodermReconstructions (talk) 05:39, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

File:Antineosteus-lehmani-from-the-late-Emsian-of-Hamar-Laghdad-A-left-paranuchal-plate.png

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Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 08:40, 13 January 2023 (UTC)