Fish and Tetrapods

Geology 331
Paleontology
Phylum Chordata: Subphyla Urochordata, Cephalochordata,
and:
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Agnatha: jawless fish, includes the hagfish, conodonts, lampreys, and
ostracoderms (armored jawless fish)
Gnathostomes: jawed fish (an evolutionary grade, not a taxon)
Class Placoderms: armored fish
Class Chondrichthyes: cartilaginous fish
Class Osteichthyes: bony fish
Subclass Actinopterygians: ray-finned fish
Subclass Sarcopterygians: lobe-finned fish
Order Dipnoans: lung fish
Order Crossopterygians: coelocanths and rhipidistians
Class Amphibia
Fish-tetrapod phylogeny
Prothero, 2007
Urochordates: Sea Squirts. Adults have a pharynx with
gill slits. Larval forms are free-swimming and have a
notochord. Chordates are thought to have evolved from
the larval form by precocious sexual maturation.
Tunicates or Sea Squirts
mobile larva

sessile adult
Chordate evolution
Prothero, 2007
Cephalochordate: Branchiostoma, the lancelet
Pikaia, a cephalochordate from the Burgess Shale
Haikouella, a cephalochordate from the Lower
Cambrian of China
A toothless, jawless hagfish
Haikouichthys,
vertebrate, Lower
Cambrian of
China -
Chengjiang fauna,
scale is 5 mm
A living jawless fish, the lamprey,
Class Agnatha
Jawless fish do
have teeth!
A fossil jawless fish, Class Agnatha,
Ostracoderm, Hemicyclaspis, Silurian
 Agnathan,
Ostracoderm,
Athenaegis,
Silurian of Canada
 Agnathan,
Ostracoderm,
Pteraspis,
Devonian of
the U.K.
 Agnathan,
Ostracoderm,
Liliaspis,
Devonian of
Russia
Jaws evolved by
modification of
the gill arch
bones.
 The placoderms
were the armored
fish of the
Paleozoic. Grew up
to 10 m in length.
Placoderm, Dunkleosteus, Devonian of Ohio
Asterolepis,
Placoderms,
Devonian of
Latvia
Placoderm, Devonian of Australia
Chondrichthyes, Great White Shark
 Fossil teeth of a
Great White shark,
Megalodon
Himantura - a ray
Fish Anatomy: Ray-finned fish
Osteichthyes: ray-finned fish:
clownfish
Osteichthyes: ray-finned fish, deep water
species
Lophius, an Eocene
fish showing the ray
fins. This is an
anglerfish.
Osteichthyes, ray-finned fish, Jurassic
Leptolepis, ray-finned, Jurassic of
Australia
Osteichthyes, ray-finned fish, Eocene, Wyoming
Fish Anatomy: Lobe-finned fish
Bone structure in fins of ray-finned and
lobe-finned fish
Comparison of Ray Fins and Lobe Fins
Osteichthyes, lobe-finned fish,
Devonian of Scotland
Coelocanth, a
living lobe-
finned fish:
Osteichthyes,
Sarcopterygian
Skeleton of the coelocanth
A Coelocanth
Evolution of the tetrapod walking leg from
the lobe fin
Sauripterus,
rhipidistian,
Late Devonian,
Pennsylvania
 Evolution of
tetrapod legs
from lobe fins,
late Devonian to
early
Mississippian
Evolution of
Tetrapods

Prothero, 2007
Late Devonian fin with fingers from a lobe-
finned fish, Pennsylvania
Tiktaalik rosea
from the Late
Devonian of
Ellsmere
Island,
Canada, 2006
Tiktaalik rosea from
the Late Devonian
of Ellsmere Island,
Canada, 2006
Tiktaalik rosea
on
Colbert Report
 Tetrapods: Acanthostega and
Ichthyostega, Devonian of Greenland.
Fish or Tetrapods?
 Skull roof of
the Late
Devonian
tetrapod
Ichthyostega
 Acanthostega
using its legs to
lift its head out
of the stagnant
water to breathe
Hindlimb of Ichthyostega, Devonian of Greenland
Fish with Fingers, Jenny Clack
 Ichthyostega: Photographs of part and
counterpart superimposed to show seven digits
 South American lungfish in its burrow. The
lung evolved in early Devonian bony fish and
became the swim bladder of ray-finned fish.
An Australian lungfish with well
developed lobe fins
 Mudskippers,
ray-finned fish
acting like
amphibians.
They gulp air
into their swim
bladder.
A Frog Fish, a modern
ray-finned fish with
“fingers”
 The
evolutionary
step from fish to
amphibian was
not difficult.
Old Theory: Lungs evolved while looking for water in
the Devonian when streams dried up during drought.
New Theory: Lungs evolved for rapid swimming in the
open ocean. Later became the float bladder in most fish.
Permian amphibian, Seymouria, with 5 digits
Summary of the Mid Paleozoic
terrestrial invasion
Guiness “Evolution” Video
If Jurassic Park Were In Different Geological Eras