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File:Shark tooth (Fort Payne Formation, Lower Mississippian; Burkesville West Rt. 90 roadcut, Kentucky, USA) 1 (41378628505).jpg

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Fossil shark tooth from the Mississippian of Kentucky, USA.

The oldest known fish bones are fragments from the Upper Cambrian. Soft-bodied chordates referred to as “vertebrates” or “fish” are known from the Lower Cambrian and Middle Cambrian. The earliest, decent fossils of true fish are in the Ordovician. These remains show that the first fish lacked jaws. The evolution of jaws involved morphologic modification of the anterior pairs of gill arches. By the Devonian, jawed fishes had diversified into many distinct groups and became an important component of ancient oceans. The Devonian is often nicknamed “The Age of Fishes”.

Shown above is the occlusal surface of a shell-crushing tooth from a fossil shark - possibly Helodus. It is composed of blackish-colored apatite (calcium phosphate).

Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Chondrichthyes, Euchondrocephali, Helodontidae (?)

Stratigraphy: Fort Payne Formation, Osagean Stage, upper Lower Mississippian

Locality: roadcut on the southern side of Route 90, just west of Burkesville, Kentucky, USA (36° 47’ 58.30” North latitude, 85° 22’ 58.20” West longitude)
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Source Shark tooth (Fort Payne Formation, Lower Mississippian; Burkesville West Rt. 90 roadcut, Kentucky, USA) 1
Author James St. John

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This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/41378628505 (archive). It was reviewed on 12 October 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

12 October 2019

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current04:04, 12 October 2019Thumbnail for version as of 04:04, 12 October 20193,761 × 2,623 (5.44 MB)Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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