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Thelodonti ('feeble-teeth') are a group of small, extinct jawless fishes with distinctive scales instead of large plates of armour. There is much debate over whether the group of Palaeozoic fish known as the Thelodonti (formerly coelolepids [11]) represent a monophyletic grouping, or disparate stem groups to the major lines of jawless and jawed ...
Agnatha (/ ˈ æ ɡ n ə θ ə, æ ɡ ˈ n eɪ θ ə /; [3] from Ancient Greek ἀ-(a-) 'without' and γνάθος (gnáthos) 'jaws') is a paraphyletic infraphylum [4] of non-gnathostome vertebrates, or jawless fish, in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, consisting of both living (cyclostomes) and extinct (conodonts, anaspids, and ostracoderms, among others).
Hagfish, of the class Myxini / m ɪ k ˈ s aɪ n aɪ / (also known as Hyperotreti) and order Myxiniformes / m ɪ k ˈ s ɪ n ɪ f ɔːr m iː z /, are eel-shaped jawless fish (occasionally called slime eels). Hagfish are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column, although they do have rudimentary vertebrae. [3]
Fish without scales usually evolve alternatives to the protection scales can provide, such as tough leathery skin or bony plates. Jawless fish (lampreys and hagfishes) have smooth skin without scales and without dermal bone. [59] Lampreys get some protection from a tough leathery skin.
Thelodonts (nipple teeth) are a class of small, extinct jawless fishes with distinctive scales instead of large plates of armour. There is debate over whether these represent a monophyletic grouping, or disparate stem groups to the major lines of jawless and jawed fish. [19] Thelodonts are united by their characteristic "thelodont scales".
Furcacauda is a genus of thelodontid agnathan from the Lower Devonian of Canada, and is the type genus of the order Furcacaudiformes. [2] Furcacaudiform thelodontids were deep water jawless vertebrates with symmetrical fork and lobed-finned tails and scales smaller than typical loganellid and nikoliviid thelodonti scales. [1]
A newfound fossil of a jawless fish is the oldest known vertebrate cranium preserved in 3D. The 455 million-year-old find could illuminate how vertebrate heads evolved.
Jawless fish were the earliest fish to evolve. There is current debate over whether these are really fish at all. They have no jaw, no scales, no paired fins, and no bony skeleton. Their skin is smooth and soft to the touch, and they are very flexible. Instead of a jaw, they possess an oral sucker.