Acanthodian
| Acanthodii Temporal range: Early Silurian–Permian Survival in modern Chondrichthyes |
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| Acanthodes sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Infraphylum: | Gnathostomata |
| Class: |
†Acanthodii Owen, 1846 |
| Orders | |
Climatiiformes
Ischnacanthiformes
Acanthodiformes
Acanthodii or acanthodians (sometimes called spiny sharks) is a paraphyletic class of extinct teleostome fish, sharing features with both bony fish and cartilaginous fish. In form they resembled sharks, but their epidermis was covered with tiny rhomboid platelets like the scales of holosteans (gars, bowfins). They represent several independent phylogenetic branch of fishes leading to the still-extant Chondrichthyes.
The popular name "spiny sharks" is a partial misnomer for these early jawed fishes. The name was coined because they were superficially shark-shaped, with a streamlined body, paired fins, and a strongly upturned tail; stout, largely immovable bony spines supporting all the fins except the tail - hence, "spiny sharks"; in retrospect, however, their close relation to modern cartilaginous fish can lead them to be considered "stem-sharks". Fossilized spines and scales are often all that remains of these fishes in ancient sedimentary rocks. Although not sharks or cartilaginous fish, acanthodians did, in fact, have a cartilaginous skeleton, but their fins had a wide, bony base and were reinforced on their anterior margin with a dentine spine. The earliest acanthodians were marine, but during the Devonian, freshwater species became predominant.
There are three orders recognized: Climatiiformes, Ischnacanthiformes and Acanthodiformes. Climatiiforma had shoulder armor and many small sharp spines, Ischnacanthiforma with teeth fused to the jaw, and the Acanthodiforma were filter feeders, with no teeth in the jaw, but long gill rakers. Overall, the acanthodians' jaws are presumed to have evolved from the first gill arch of some ancestral jawless fishes that had a gill skeleton made of pieces of jointed cartilage.
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