570 vanished lives

322Mesozoic

Broad crushing teeth paved its mouth for ammonites and shellfish.

437Paleozoic

Placoderm armor enclosed jaw-margin bones resembling those of later bony fish.

438Paleozoic

Huge conical teeth armed a multi-meter freshwater lobe-finned predator.

439Mesozoic

A needle-like snout and slender body converged on modern barracudas.

440Mesozoic

Dorsal fin spines and two tooth shapes handled fish and hard-shelled prey.

441Paleozoic

Males carried a denticle-covered anvil-shaped structure on the back.

442Mesozoic

A giant bony fish filtered plankton near the ocean surface.

488Paleozoic

A broad flat placoderm independently converged on the body shape of a ray.

489Paleozoic

Crescent-shaped lateral horns widened the head armor of a small bottom-dwelling placoderm.

519Paleozoic

Males carried a striking anvil-shaped brush-and-spine complex on the back.

520Paleozoic

A short snout, large eyes and pectoral structures belonged to an early chimaera relative.

521Paleozoic

Iniopteryx rushlaui was a small cartilaginous fish with broad pectoral fins attached high on its body; the fins suggest underwater strokes, not flight.

522Paleozoic

A spear-like rostrum and lateral horns projected from this jawless armored fish.

523Paleozoic

A streamlined shield extended into a pointed snout and carried a stabilizing dorsal rise.

524Paleozoic

A long rostrum, side horns and paired openings belonged to an endemic jawless armored lineage.

557Paleozoic

A pair of curved lower-jaw tusks and a kinetic skull helped this lobe-finned fish restrain prey.

558Paleozoic

A streamlined head shield extended into a rostrum, while a dorsal spine and lateral horns stabilized the jawless fish.

559Paleozoic

Tiny rhomboid scales, a deeply forked tail and broad gape marked an early ray-finned fish radiation.