CLEVELAND, Ohio - An ancient sea creature well known to Clevelanders was far more unusual than previously thought, according to new research by Case Western Reserve University and others.

Dunkleosteus terrelli, one of the most ferocious arthrodires - an extinct group of shark-like fish with an armored head and torso - was not like all the others, the university announced recently.

A detailed study published in The Anatomical Record explains how the 14-foot armored fish was indeed an “evolutionary oddball” of its day.

The research analyzed specimens from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which houses the world’s largest and best-preserved collection of Dunkleosteus fossils.

The fierce apex predator was named after David Dunkle, a former curator of vertebrate paleontology at the m

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