Titanichthys is an extinct genus of giant, aberrant marine placoderm from shallow seas of the Late Devonian of Morocco, Eastern North America, and possibly Europe.[1] Many of the species approached Dunkleosteus in size and build. Unlike its relative, however, the various species of Titanichthys had small, ineffective-looking mouth-plates that lacked a sharp cutting edge. It is assumed that Titanichthys was a filter feeder that used its capacious mouth to swallow or inhale schools of small, anchovy-like fish, or possibly krill-like zooplankton, and that the mouth-plates retained the prey while allowing the water to escape as it closed its mouth. A study has since confirmed this assumption as its jaws are functionally closer to that of filter feeders like baleen whales and basking sharks, and it appears to have developed from benthic durophagists that became pelagic suspension feeders. This would make it the first (known) large-sized vertebrate filter feeder.[2]Titanichthys was estimated to have reached a length of 7–7.6 m (23–25 ft),[3][4][5] but Engelman (2023) suggested that Titanichthys was comparable in size to Dunkleosteus, likely measuring about or just over 4.1 metres (13.5 ft) in length.[6]
'^Denison, Robert (1978). Placodermi Volume 2 of Handbook of Paleoichthyology. Stuttgart New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-89574-027-4.
^Coatham, Samuel J.; Vinther, Jakob; Rayfield, Emily J.; Klug, Christian (2020). "Was the Devonian placoderm Titanichthys a suspension feeder?". Royal Society Open Science. 7 (5): 200–272. Bibcode:2020RSOS....700272C. doi:10.1098/rsos.200272. PMC 7277245. PMID 32537223.
^Bulletin 70. Ohio. Division of Geological Survey. 1996. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-931079-05-4. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
^Charlie Underwood, Martha Richter, Zerina Johanson (2019). Evolution and Development of Fishes. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 9781107179448. Retrieved 1 September 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Bashford Dean (1895). Fishes, Living and Fossil: An Outline of Their Forms and Probable Relationships. Macmillan and Company. p. 130. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
^Engelman, Russell K. (2023). "A Devonian Fish Tale: A New Method of Body Length Estimation Suggests Much Smaller Sizes for Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira)". Diversity. 15 (3). 318. doi:10.3390/d15030318.
various species of Titanichthys had small, ineffective-looking mouth-plates that lacked a sharp cutting edge. It is assumed that Titanichthys was a filter feeder...
Bungartius was placed as an intermediate between Tafilalichthys and Titanichthys. List of placoderms Dunkle, D.H. (1947-05-01). "A new genus and species...
waters during adolescence. A specimen of Dunkleosteus (CMNH 5302), and Titanichthys (CMNH 9889), show damage said to be puncture damage from the bony fangs...
armoured fish ever to roam the planet, lived during the Late Devonian Titanichthys, a planktivorous arthrodire from the Famennian of the Cleveland Shale...
tons) in weight. Its filter feeding relative, Titanichthys, may have rivaled it in size. Titanichthys reached a length of 7 m (23 ft) though in older...
Heterosteus might have been planktivorous, along with Homosteus, and Titanichthys. Heterosteus was originally described in 1837 as species of Trionyx,...
reasonable for many homostiids to be suspension-feeders like the later Titanichthys. Antineosteus is a homostiid, closest related to Homostius. Taxonomy...
Holonema, and some were planktivores, such as the gigantic arthrodire Titanichthys, various members of Homostiidae, and Heterosteus. Extraordinary evidence...
studies of stratigraphy and fossil fauna (he found the first specimens of Titanichthys agassizi). Later he taught at the university of Algeria (1945) and ten...
including species now assigned to Dunkleosteus, Eastmanosteus, and Titanichthys. Notably, the type species of Dunkleosteus was originally described as...
short tons) in weight. Another large placoderm, Titanichthys, may have rivaled it in size. Titanichthys is estimated to have a length around 4.1–7.5 m...
suggest that the various species were benthic predators. A study on Titanichthys, in contrast, suggests that species of Homosteus may have been filter-feeders...
the same league as Tyrannosaurus rex and the modern crocodile. TitanichthysTitanichthys is a genus of giant, aberrant marine placoderm that lived in shallow...
Temporal range: Devonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Dunkleosteus and Titanichthys skulls in Wyoming Dinosaur Center Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota...
Heintzichthys gouldii, and five subspecies (including the type specimen) of Titanichthys were all discovered in the Cleveland Shale. The Cleveland Shale is classified...
sardines, and silvery lightfish. In ancient systems (read more below), the Titanichthys was an early massive vertebrate pelagic planktivore, with a lifestyle...
from a construction site, including giant species like Dunkleosteus and Titanichthys. By the ensuing November 120 or more different species had been found...
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