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Prehistoric fish are early fish that are known only from fossil records. They are the earliest known vertebrates, and include the first and extinct fish that lived through the Cambrian to the Quaternary. The study of prehistoric fish is called paleoichthyology. A few living forms, such as the coelacanth are also referred to as prehistoric fish ...
Dunkleosteus. Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first apex predators of any ecosystem. [1]
Coelacanth. Coelacanths (/ ˈsiːləkænθ / ⓘ SEE-lə-kanth) (order Coelacanthiformes) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. [2][3] As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (which includes amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish.
The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish lineages belong to the Agnatha, or jawless fish. Early examples include Haikouichthys.
Synonyms. Placodermata. Placoderms (from Greek πλάξ (plax, plakos) ' plate ' and δέρμα (derma) 'skin') [1] are vertebrate animals of the class Placodermi, an extinct group of prehistoric fish known from Paleozoic fossils during the Silurian and the Devonian periods. While their endoskeletons are mainly cartilaginous, their head and ...
Sturgeon. Sturgeon (from Old English styrġa ultimately from Proto-Indo-European * str̥ (Hx)yón - [1]) is the common name for the 28 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early Jurassic ...
Gar. Gars are an ancient group of ray-finned fish in the family Lepisosteidae. They comprise seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America and Cuba in the Caribbean, [1][2] though extinct members of the family were more widespread. They are the ...
Leedsichthys is an extinct genus of pachycormid fish that lived in the oceans of the Middle to Late Jurassic. [1] It is the largest ray-finned fish, and amongst the largest fish known to have ever existed. [2] The first remains of Leedsichthys were identified in the nineteenth century. Especially important were the finds by the British ...