Devonian Animals & the Age of Fishes

312Paleozoic

A broad hinge line formed stone wings that stabilized the shell on soft mud.

320Paleozoic

An embryo with an umbilical connection records some of the earliest live birth.

321Paleozoic

This giant placoderm lacked sharp jaw blades and may have filtered plankton.

399Paleozoic

Meter-high columns towered over landscapes of otherwise low vegetation.

400Paleozoic

Tiny flask-shaped fruiting bodies inside plant tissue are among the oldest ascomycete evidence.

415Paleozoic

Spiraled diamond plates formed a calcified pinecone-like body.

419Paleozoic

Eight-meter leafless crowns formed one of the earliest known forests.

476Paleozoic

Fungal filaments surrounded cyanobacterium-like cells in an early lichen-style partnership.

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.

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.

554Paleozoic

Carbonized cell sheets and tangled tubes came from an enigmatic early terrestrial organism.

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.