#ostracoderm

A display showing off armoured jawless fish.

Prehistoric Animals. The 1976 Childcraft Annual.

Anyway, here’s yet another minor character from the animated series pitch I’m working on.

Astraspis 467-443 Mia Ordovician, 20cm North America and Bolivia A filter feeding early jawless fish that lived in shallow coastal waters with little current. Its overlapping backscales and teardrop shape gave it very hydrodynamicalls efficient body. its called star-shield due to the mildly star shaped denticle scales.

Today for fish friday, I would love to show you more of one of my favorite families of jawless fish. The Furcacaudidae. Or: “The fish that look like your six year old nice drew them” Important elements of a fish are present ( aside from jaws ) yet they are all “off” from what we know about fish. Such as the lobes within the fins, the very high number of gillslits and the oddly planklinke shape. Important to point out is that the furcacaudidae whereso far the oldest fish discovered with an actual stomach cavity and guts instead of a simple tube. Canonia is pure speculation on my part, since we only ever found scales of this little oddball. A trend wich will continue during our journey.

Was worried I wouldnt be able to finish anything in time for this weeks fish friday. I feared I would have to post that boring excel sheet of Ostracoderms instead. But instead of that atrocity, I give you Hanyangaspis a flat but precious cephalaspidomorph of the galeaspida class. With up to 30cm it was one of the biggest jawless fish to ever grace the waters. I gave it a sort of flatfishesque pattern cause just cause I can imagine it dashing into the ground and hide camouflaged to escape predation. (I am sadly not sure on the timeframe of this cutie. Sources vary highly with some stating 416Ma and others 436 to 428 Ma)

A depiction of the Devonian ostracoderm Hemicyclaspis by Udo M. Savalli.

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