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The King of Dinosaurs

A Slam Dunk for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Dunkleosteus terrelli Now ‘O-FISH-al’ State Fossil

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On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, the Ohio General Assembly passed SB 123, a bill declaring Dunkleosteus terrelli the state fossil fish. 
 
“Today, as the governor signs this bill into law, this designation will serve to inspire those with a budding interest in Ohio history, paleontology, marine biology, and other fields. It will put Ohio on the map as one of the few states represented by a scientifically significant fossil fish,” says Sonia Winner, President & CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. “It also gives us the opportunity to reach and excite schoolchildren all over Ohio via the Museum’s statewide Distance Learning Program.”
 
Winner adds, “A special thanks goes out to President of the Senate Larry Obhof, Speaker of the House Bob Cupp, and Senators Matt Dolan and Nathan Manning, who sponsored the bill along with 35 Senate and House co-sponsors, as well as to the leaders in the Ohio General Assembly who used their voices to promote the wonders of science and nature. In a world that is rapidly evolving, it is now more vital than ever to advocate for STEM literacy in any way possible.
 
“Clearly, Dunkleosteus terrelli is a uniquely Ohio treasure, with the first of these fossils found along the Olentangy River between Columbus and Delaware,” says Winner. “The biggest and most complete specimens, however, came from Sheffield Lake and the Rocky River Valley. These fossils are internationally famous and the world’s best-preserved specimens of Dunkleosteus ever discovered.”
 
Among the individuals who testified in support of SB 123 before the Senate and House Committees were Chief Wildlife Officer & Museum Ambassador Harvey Webster and Museum Board members Frances “Fran” Buchholzer and Dr. Bill Hlavin. They were joined by Mike Angle and Mark Peter, of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Bree Obhof, a young paleontology enthusiast and daughter of Senate President Larry Obhof.
 
“It’s a great story. It’s an Ohio story. It’s a Cleveland Museum of Natural History story,” says Webster. “And Dunk—as the Museum affectionately calls Dunkleosteus—is one of the most impressive fish ever to have lived. This designation gives Dunk, who is already an icon at the Museum, an ‘o-FISH-al’ status in the great State of Ohio.”
 
About Dunkleosteus terrelli
Today, Ohio is known for the neighboring Great Lakes, but many may not know that Ohio’s aquatic history extends all the way back to the Devonian Period, 363 million years ago. During that time, known as the “Age of Fishes,” this region was located 800 miles south of the equator and covered by a shallow, subtropical sea (a body of water completely different from Lake Erie). The ruler of that prehistoric body of water was none other than Dunkleosteus terrelli. 
 
This fish, which was a member of the now-extinct order Arthrodira, was named after two Ohio-born-and-raised paleontologists. The genus name, Dunkleosteus, honors Dr. David Dunkle, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s former Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, who did considerable research on Dunkleosteus. The species name, terrelli, commemorates Jay Terrell, the local hotelier who originally discovered the species along the shores of Lake Erie.
 
Much of what is known about the giant armored fish—whose bite force rivaled that of modern-day alligators—comes from one-of-a-kindspecimens in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s vast collections. Many of the Museum’s “Dunk” fossils were recovered between 1965 and 1967, when the Ohio Department of Transportation excavated Big Creek Valley in southwestern Cleveland to build Interstate 71.