Duyunolepis, a slightly more streamlined galeaspid, part of a small family that shows up rather late in galeaspid/armored jawless fish existence (mid-Devonian/400 Mya). Duyunolepids inhabited deeper coastal waters than most other galeaspids. 🎨

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2022-06-03

Sinogaleaspis, a member of the Galeaspida, a group of mid-Paleozoic armored jawless fishes exclusive to China and SE Asia. The central slit is a spiracle-like opening leading to the gills, the real mouth is beneath! 🎨Shan et al. 2020

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2022-05-20

Belantsea, a tiny cartilaginous ratfish (Holocephali) from Bear Gulch, Montana. It was an agile reef fish with a beak of "fangs". It's unclear whether it moved like a tang, frogfish, or stingray given enlarged fins and flattened fossils

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2022-05-05

Harpagofututor, another Carboniferous "eel" related to ratfish/ghost sharks (Holocephali), with toothplates for shell-crushing. The name ("grappling hook copulator") is for the males' head-clasper "antlers", which females bit during mating! (Nix Illustration)

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2022-04-24