A newfound fossil of a jawless fish is the oldest known vertebrate cranium preserved in 3D. The 455 million-year-old find could illuminate how vertebrate heads evolved.
Hundreds of millions of years ago, jawless fishes swam Earth’s seas, their brains protected on the outside by armored skin, and on the inside by plates made of cartilage. Scientists are still piecing together how modern vertebrates’ skulls evolved from these ancient fish ancestors, which were the first animals with backbones. Now, recent analysis of a spectacular fossil is filling in some gaps.
The team reconstructed a digital model of the fish’s cranium in 3D, Dearden told CNN. “I suspect the reason it’s taken so long for someone to scan it is that very few people actually work on these Ordovician fishes, and this is the kind of fossil where you really need to be a specialist to recognise its potential,” he said in an email. Armored and jawless Jawless fishes from the Ordovician Period — 488.3 million to 443.
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