Are Placoderms Carnivores

The fossils Ahlberg found belong to early jawed fish called placoderms, which had tough sheets of body armour that covered their heads and parts of their bodies. Most of them were carnivores. “Some were quite scary, big-time predators,” says Ahlberg. One, known as Dunkleosteus, grew to 10 metres in length.

What do placoderms look like?

What did they look like? Placoderms had heavy armour that covered their head and thorax. The rest of the body was covered with small bony scales or was without dental armour. … Placoderms lacked teeth but biting or grinding structures are often found in the dermal bones lining their mouths.

How did the placoderms go extinct?

It was thought for a time that placoderms became extinct due to competition from the first bony fish and early sharks, given a combination of the supposed inherent superiority of bony fish and the presumed sluggishness of placoderms.