The murky pond lays silently in the riparian forest of the Late Devonian, 365 mya. Dragonfly like insects soar and hunt for smaller airborne relatives, their quiet buzzing is the only sound disturbing the lethargic scene. A pair of those hunters engages is their distinct mating ritual, the “heart”.
Bothriolepis (Kaiyodo)
Bothriolepis (Paleozoo)

Cephalaspis (Starlux)

The earliest vertebrates didn’t have jaws, but once true jaws evolved the animals that had them quickly became more numerous and diverse. These days, the only jawless fishes left are a few dozen species of lampreys and hagfishes, but in the Early Devonian most fishes lacked jaws. One of those Early Devonian beasts was Cephalaspis, which despite its lack of jaws is more closely related to us than to lampreys.
Cladoselache (Kaiyodo series 1)

Ah, Cladoselache. The first shark! How exciting. Up for review today is the first rendition of the first shark, made by Kaiyodo.
Cladoselache is believed to be a very agile and swift predator – this is very well represented in this replica. The smooth (and scaleless) skin, the large keels, and the thick caudal fin are all features of this replica that point to it being a swift predator.
Dunkleosteus (Chap Mei)

In the past few years we’ve seen an explosion of Dunkleosteus figures from all kinds of companies, from masterpieces like Favorite Co’s rendition to worthy-but-flawed efforts like CollectA’s to fairly bad ones like the subject of today’s review. It’s the most popular prehistoric fish in plastic, eclipsing the huge but otherwise utterly boring C.
Dunkleosteus (Deluxe by CollectA)

Dunkleosteus (Favorite Co. Ltd)

In the Devonian period, the largest animals were arthrodires, huge armored fish informally referred to as placoderms. ‘Arthrodire’ means “joint-necked,” referring to the fact that there was a hinge in their armor between the thorax and the back of the head. One of the largest arthrodires was Dunkleosteus, a fish so ancient that when Tyrannosaurus rex was walking around, Dunkleosteus had already been extinct for almost 300 million years!
Dunkleosteus (Like Hobby by ThinkArt)

If somebody has heard of just one Paleozoic fish, it’s probably Dunkleosteus, designated yesterday as Ohio’s official state fossil fish! Toy companies have made more than a dozen different versions over the years, and several higher-end models exist as well. Earlier this year, a Thai studio called Like Hobby/ThinkArt released one of the latter.
Dunkleosteus (Mojö Fun)

350 million years before the advent of humans, reindeer, or consumerism, our distant gnathostome forebears celebrated Fishmas. Fishmas originated when Santa Claus turned the wrong dial on the time machine he uses to travel to every house in the same night, landing him in the Devonian and the gaping maw of a Dunkleosteus.
Dunkleosteus (Paleozoic Pals)

Dunkleosteus (The First Giants by Schleich)

It isn’t often that a toy company offers us a prehistoric fish, but when they do, it’s usually Dunkleosteus. Small wonder, since this gigantic arthrodire was imposing and distinctive, reaching 8 meters in length. It was probably the largest animal alive during the Devonian period, 100 million years before the first dinosaurs.
Dunkleosteus (Vinyl Model Series by Favorite)

Next to the giant shark Megalodon, the armored Devonian placoderm Dunkleosteus is probably the most famous prehistoric fish, featuring frequently in publications and other media. Naturally, many toy and model companies have given the great fish a go at least once. Favorite Collection, which released one Dunkleosteus in 2014 under their Soft Model line, produced another figure of the genus under the Vinyl Model series.
Dunkleosteus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd)

As of late, Safari’s newcomers really have become something to look forward to, even more so if one of those newcomers is a late Devonian Placoderm (Placodermi are an exotic but fertile terrain only Kaiyodo, Prehistoric Panorama and Starlux had dared to explore) The Dunkleosteus is a fresh idea from Safari, and as such, it’s had a warm welcome among collectors.
Elginerpeton (Shyaruru Palette by TST Advance Inc.)

Recently my attention was drawn to a Japanese soft toy company known as TST Advance. They have an extensive range of animal toys named “Shyaruru Palette”. This range consists of many creatures rarely depicted in toy form including Helicoprion, Marrella, Ichthyostega, a coelacanth, as well as some extant ones such as a Komodo dragon and a stag beetle.