The Cleveland Shale is a well-known deposit from the Devonian Period, also known as the Age of Fishes, where fossils of numerous fish are uncovered, including the famous Dunkleosteus.
Dunkleosteus belonged to a diverse group of fish called placoderms, which dominated the Devonian seas before going extinct during the second major mass extinction in Earth’s history.
Another group of fish, the sharks, are also well preserved in the Cleveland Shale and were prey to the fearsome Dunkleosteus. Travel back in time to the Late Devonian, approximately 360
million years ago, to learn about the apex predator, Dunkleosteus. Discover what made this fish so unique and formidable and learn about the other fish, some familiar and some bizarre, that
coexisted in the ancient marine ecosystem.
Amanda Mc gee is the Head of Collections and Collections Manager for the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Her responsibilities include
overseeing the collections management staff, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the vertebrate paleontology collection, and participating in the museum's transformation project,
including planning all new exhibits, collection storage facilities and lab spaces. Amanda’s fieldwork background includes excavation of Late Cretaceous fauna from Alberta, Canada and
Late Devonian fish from the Cleveland area.
Amanda has a Master of Science specializing in Vertebrate Paleontology from the University of Calgary where her research focused on fossil turtles and turtle eggs from the Late Cretaceous of
Alberta. Amanda also has a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. Before joining the staff at the CMNH Amanda worked as a fossil preparator and field assistant that the
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta, as well as a collections intern at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In her spare time Amanda enjoys hiking, reading, and
spending quality time with her husband Cory and their tuxedo cat, Mona.
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