Dunkleosteus Terrelli Replica on display at Sheffield Lake City Hall
Around 1867, along the shale cliffs of the lakeshore of Sheffield Lake, Jay Terrell found fossils of a “terrible fish” later named in his honor as Dinichthys Terrelli. This animal, now known as Dunkleosteus terrelli, was a massive arthrodire (an extinct, joint-necked, armor-plated fish) that lived in the Devonian sea, which covered much of eastern North America some 354-364 million years ago. Dunkleosteus was armed with an incredible set of shearing jaws and was clearly the top marine predator in the Devonian Period (the “Age of Fishes”).
Jay Terrell and his terrible fish
Dunkleosteus information boards located at Shell Cove Park
Shell Cove – Jay Terrell’s 1867 Dunkleosteus Discovery Location