Bothriolepis was a small Placoderm of the Late Devonian Period, around 360 Million Years Ago. It was around 60-80 centimetres long, and weighed a couple of dozen pounds (heavier for its size due to the iconic thick armour plates of its Placoderm Fish family)
Description[]
Being small, and with its eyes positioned on the top of its head to detect predators and the mouth slung low on the skull to hover up its food, it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that this animal was a bottom-feeder - a Detritivore that lived in seas, tidal estuaries and perhaps inland in rivers and lakes also.
Bothriolepis would have doubtlessly been just one of the species on the menu of the terrifying 10 metre long Dunkleosteus, an different Placoderm (related to Bothriolepis but of a different
branch of the family called the Arthodire Placoderms)
It is likely that the Bothriolepis was the prey of various denizens of the Devonian deep.
Sea Monsters[]
Bothriolepis appeared briefly in the BBC 'Walking With Dinosaurs : Sea Monsters Trilogy Special'. It was seen in the Devonian Period visit of Nigel Marven' epic journey through the 'seven deadliest seas of all time'. The Devonian Period came 5th; with Nigel using the Bothriolepis he caught using a fishing rod, as bait wrapped in chainmail to demonstrate the awesome power of the jaws of Dunkleosteus.