(crushing teeth and spiky claspers)
Ptyctodontiformes of the Ptyctodontidae family from the Upper Devonian of Bomback, Rhineland, Germany. Karl Albert Frickhinger, 1995. |
Ptyctodontida means "beaked tooth". These fish had strong crushing plates in the jaws, short trunk shields and reduced head bone cover. They also had long bodies with whip-like tails and large heads with big eyes and resembled modern day chimaerids (relative to sharks) and whipfishes. These sea-dwelling fish were specially adapted for feeding along the bottom of the sea on hard shelled organisms. Ptyctodontida were the only placoderms to show sexual dimorphism in that the males had dermal clasping organs. |
