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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).
Most male fish have two testes of similar size. In the case of sharks, the testes on the right side is usually larger [citation needed].The primitive jawless fish have only a single testis, located in the midline of the body, although even this forms from the fusion of paired structures in the embryo.
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 ...
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]
Jawless fish belong to the superclass Agnatha in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata. Agnatha means 'un-jawed, without jaws' (from Ancient Greek). [11] It excludes all vertebrates with jaws, known as gnathostomes. Although a minor element of modern marine fauna, jawless fish were prominent among the early fish in the early Paleozoic.
The primitive jawless fish have only a single testis located in the midline of the body, although even this forms from the fusion of paired structures in the embryo. [ 41 ] Under a tough membranous shell, the tunica albuginea , the testis of some teleost fish, contains very fine coiled tubes called seminiferous tubules .
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.
Jamoytius kerwoodi is an extinct species of primitive, eel-like jawless fish known from the Patrick Burn Formation in Scotland, dating to the Llandovery epoch of the Early Silurian period. Long thought of as a "basal anaspid," J. kerwoodi is now recognized as the best-known member of the Hyperoartian order Jamoytiiformes.