Tag Archive for 'Jawed vertebrate'

Life reconstruction of Sacabambaspis janvieri, a species of armored jawless fish that lived during the Ordovician period. Image credit: Kaori Serakaki, OIST.

Study: Late Ordovician Mass Extinction Cleared Way for First Fishes

Jan 12, 2026 by News Staff

A long-standing mystery in vertebrate evolution — why most major fish lineages appear suddenly in the fossil record tens of millions of years after...

Artistic rendering of Brindabellaspis stensioi (foreground) with a range of other Devonian fossil fishes; the white shark and human diver in the upper right corner represent modern jawed vertebrates. Image credit: Hongyu Yang / Qiuyang Zheng.

Ocean Oxygenation during Mid-Devonian Enabled Expansion of Animals into Deeper-Water Habitats

Aug 26, 2025 by News Staff

Around 390 million years ago (Devonian period), marine animals began colonizing depths previously uninhabited. New research led by scientists from Duke...

Palaeospondylus australis, braincase and histological section. Image credit: Burrow et al., doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae444.

400-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Enigmatic Jawed Vertebrate Unearthed in Australia

Dec 11, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Palaeospondylus gunni, a small creature with an eel-like body that lived during the Middle Devonian epoch around 390 million years ago, is represented...