Origin & Evolution of

Ostracoderms and Placoderms

• They resembled the present day cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfishes) in many espects and together
with them, constitute a special group of jawless vertebrates, the Agnatha.

• Ostracoderms were encountered first as fragmented fossils occurring in the rocks of late Cambrian and
middle Ordovician periods.

• They were quite abundant during the upper Silurian and Devonian periods.

• Most of their fossils were preserved in the bottom sediments of freshwater streams. However, opinion is
sharply divided as to whether their habitat was freshwater or marine.
 Important features
• These primitive vertebrates were small to medium sized.
• Their body form was fishlike, usually flattened dorso-ventrally, with a huge head
and gill region, a tapering but muscular trunk and some sort of tail fin.
• They had no jaws and no pectoral or pelvic fins but had only median fins.
• Remarkably these earliest vertebrates were very bony and heavily armoured.
• The head was encased in a solid shield made of broad bony dermal plates, while
the rest of the body surrounded by a series of smaller plates often called dermal
scales.
• This has led to their names 'ostracoderms’, 'armoured fishes* or 'bony skin* (Gr.,
ostrakon, shell + derma, skin).
 Why were they so heavily armoured ?
• It has been suggested that the heavy exoskeleton served as a protection against the giant scorpion-
like arthropods, the eurypterids, which were dominant predators of Cambrian, Ordovician and
Silurian periods.
• Later, when these enemies disappeared, the jawed descendants of ostracoderms also lost their
heavy armour which only hindered rapid progress.
• The ostracoderm head was rather unusual.
• Most kinds had a pair of large lateral eyes and a median pineal eye on top of head.
• A single median nostril was located anterior to pineal eye.
• Very little is known about ostracoderm internal anatomy.
• They had no axial endoskeleton or vertebrae.
• Mouth was ant ero ventral small and without jaws or teeth.
• Sensory fields on head were probably a part of the lateral line system.
• Judging by their flattened body and feeble fins, they were probably sluggish bottom dwellers and
filter feeders, like most of the present day lower chordates.
• An internal ear with 2 semicircular canals was present.
 Biological Significance

• Ostracoderms are especially interesting because they represent the oldest known
vertebrate fossils in the late Cambrian and Ordovician rocks dating back to nearly
500 million years.
• They are the remote ancestors of all the vertebrates including man.
• Microscopic examination of their fossilized bony tissues reveals a great
complexity of structure, thereby implying that these vertebrates were far advanced
and had undergone a considerable period of evolution before becoming fossilized.
• Lack of earlier vertebrate fossils shows that they had perhaps evolved in a habitat
(freshwater?) which was inimical to fossilization.
• It is also likely that the earliest ancestors lacked hard skeletal materials, i.e., bone.
• They developed heavy bony armours perhaps for survival against the attacks of
contemporary giant arachnid predators, the eurypterids.

• As these enemies disappeared, the descendants of ostracodermis, the cyclostomes,

• The cartilage of cyclostomes and sharks and skates (Chondrichthyes) was

• Since the ostracoderms had bony skeletons, the bone is now considered more
primitive and the cartilage is interpreted as a degenerate condition.
 Placoderms : Origin & Evolution
• The First Jawed Vertebrates

• In the mid-Silurian, some 450 million years ago, as the ostracoderms were disappearing, a
host of more efficient and jawed fishes appeared.
• Earlier grouped in a single category, they are now placed into two separate classes;
Placodermi and Acanthodii.
• Placodermi were earliest jawed vertebrates of fossil record.
• They appeared in Silurian, flourished in Devonian and Carboniferous and became extinct in
Permian.
• They probably lived both in fresh water as well as seas.
• Some primitive agnath ostracoderms were probably the ancestors of placoderms. But their
fossil record does not show any connecting link between the jawless and the jawed fishes.
 Important Features
• Like ostracoderms before them, the jawed fishes also appear fully formed without
intermediates. Fossil evidence for the ancestry of Placodermi simply does not exist.
• The placoderms combined the heavy external bonyarmour of the ostracoderms with
powerful jaws and efficient fins.

1. Bony armour
• Despite the differences among them, all were characterized by the presence of a
bony skeleton.
• The name Placodermi means 'armoured fish' or * 'plate-skinned' (Gr., plakos, plates
+ derma, skin).
• Their dermal armour links them genetically with their predecessors, the
ostracoderms.
2. Jaws
• All placoderms possess jaws which are supposed to have originated from the first pair of gill bars (mandibular arch)
in front of the first gill slit.

• With paired fins and bony jaws they became more active, predaceous and specialized than the jawless ostracoderms.

• Jaws enabled them to spread into new habitats, make use of a wider variety of food and evolve immeasurably.

• Jaws also provided protection or defense and the ability to manipulate objects.

• With a biting mouth, heavy external armour probably became unnecessary and tended to disappear with the result
that descendants could grow still larger and swim faster.

• No wonder the success of jawed fights probably contributed to the extinction of the ostracoderms and to the
limitation of cyclostomes.
3. Paired Fins.
• Most placoderms possess paired fins.

• In an aquatic environment, development of strong mobile fins was coincident with

• The lateral fins served, like the elevators and ailerons of an aircraft, to produce
turning movements in any direction (right, left, up oi down) and to prevent roll,
pitch, and yaw when swimming in a straight path.

• Placoderms survived for a short period only and are often considered as
'unsuccessful ancient experiment', in the evolution of gnathostomes.
 Biological Significance

• Placoderms were the earliest of the known fossil vertebrates with jaws, mostly creatures of the Devonian.
• Their bony armour links them genetically with their predecessors, the ostracoderms.
• With bony jaws and paired fins, they were more specialized than ostracoderms.
• A new era in the history of fishes opened with the advent of jaws.
• There is no fossil evidence for the ancestry of placoderms.
• Some primitive ostracoderms were probably their ancestors.
• According to one view, the placoderms all became extinct by the end of the Palaeozoic era, without giving
rise to any surviving forms.
• According to another view, the cartilaginous fishes or Chondrichthyes and the bony fishes or Osteichthyes,
both arose in early Devonian from some primitive group of Placoderms.