Fish
For more fish see also Brazilian Fossils, Solnhofen & Sharkteeth section
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Fish:
The first fishes appeared in the Cambrian. These were also the first vertebrates (animals
with a backbone). They are the most diverse group of vertebrates, with more than 23,000
known species living today. The first fishes were still jawless, and had an amazing
exoskeleton, consisting of a head shield, and, for some, hard bony plates halfway the
body. These armored fishes also did not have scales yet. Fishes developed jaws and scales
in the Silurian. Jaws probably evolved from the first row of gill arches. Until then,
fishes had a mouth with which they could only suck in food. The development of jaws and
teeth was very important for the vertebrates, because it meant they could eat more
different kinds of food than jawless animals. A lot of different carnivores arose, which
in turn forced their prey to improve the ability to flee. In the Devonian, some fishes
left the water and evolved into amphibians. This is one of the greatest events in the
history of life on earth as the amphibians in turn evolved into reptiles and these in
birds and mammals.
Bibliography:
Palaeozoic fishes, J.A. Moy-Thomas, 1971 (2nd ed.), Chapman & Hall (London,
UK)
Fossilien Atlas Fische, K.A. Frickhinger, 1991, Verlag für Natur- und Heimtierkunde
(Melle, Germany)
The rise of fishes, J.A. Long, 1995, The John Hopkins University Press (London, UK)
Discovering fossil fishes, J.G. Maisey, 1996, Henry Holt Publ. (New York, US)
Mesozoic fishes 2, G. Arratia, 1999, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil (Munich, Germany)
Handbook of paleoichthyology, different volumes, Gustav Fischer Verlag (Stuttgart,
Germany)
The Palaeozoic fishes of North America,
J.S. Newberry, 1889, Government Printing Office (