OSTRACODERM

any of an extinct group of small, fishlike Paleozoic vertebrates, members of which belonged to several orders particularly abundant in Late Silurian and Early Devonian formations (387 to 421 million years old) of Europe and North America. Jaws in the animals were not yet developed, and paired appendages were often absent. These primitive characteristics show that the ostracoderms were allied to the living Cyclostomatahagfishes and lampreysan order with which they are often grouped to form the vertebrate class Agnatha. Ostracoderms carried bony armour; internal bony areas also are sometimes present. There were three major orders: Osteostraci, Anaspida, and Heterostraci. In the Osteostraci, such as Cephalaspis, the head and the gill region were covered by a broad crescent-shaped shield of bone. Dorsally, there were paired orbits, a median eye, and, anterior to this (as in lampreys), a median opening leading to the nasal organ and hypophysis. The mouth was small. Internally there was a large branchial, or gill, chamber; the animal appears to have been a filter feeder after the fashion of lower chordates. The Anaspida included small spindle-shaped fishes with a narrower and deeper form than that of osteostracans. There was no expanded head shield, and this region was covered by a series of small oat-shaped scales. No internal structures are known, but the pattern of openings for sense organs and gills was similar to that of the Osteostraci. In the Heterostraci, such as Pteraspis, the anterior part of the longer, slender body was enclosed in a set of large plates. The mouth was a transverse ventral slit, suggesting a mud-grubbing mode of feeding. No internal structures have been preserved, but impressions inside the plates indicate the presence of large gill chambers. There was a single external gill opening on either side. Possibly related to the Heterostraci were Thelodus and other genera, in which no plates or large scales were present; instead, the whole body was covered with minute scales.