Landlocked Mermaid

Ancient Seas Pteraspis Photo from Encyclopeadia Britannica Kingdom: Animalia  Class: Pteraspidomorphi Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Era: Pragian epoch of Devonian Era, 398 - 416 million years ago WHAT WAS IT? The pteraspis was a heterostracan fish. This means it was a jawless vertebrate. It was a common during this era for fish to be jawless. The pteraspis was also a placoderm, which meant it was armoured. To summarise, this fish has a spine but no jaw, and is half armoured. Fish were weird 400 million years ago! However, it was one of the last species of both heterostracan and placoderm fish suggesting there was no longer a need for these evolutionary advantages. Both types of fish were extinct by the end of the Devonian Era. WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE? Well, it wasn't the prettiest fish. Its front half was armour plated, which would have been used for protection against predation. It was streamlined and finless, but did have protrusions fro...

Dunkleosteus Dunkleosteus skull. Photo from Earth Touch Kingdom: Animalia Class: Placodermi Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Found: Northern Hemisphere (based on fossil locations) Era: Late Devonian Lived: 358-382 million years ago Diet: Carnivorous, most likely other armoured fish Weight: 1 tonne* Size: 6m (19.7ft)* Habitat: Deep water *Based on the largest of the ten known species. Dunkleosteus were ancient, armoured fish which inhabited the Earth over 350 million years ago, first discovered in 1873. They belong to the Placoderm family, which derives its meaning from "plate" in Greek (plax-) and "derm" in reference to skin. They were fish with articulated armour plates around their heads and thorax. The ocean used to be full of these types of fish and the Dunkleosteus were among the biggest. Well, some of them were. There are ten known species of Dunkleosteus, the largest being D.terrelli . This was the one tonne...