This fish is the first vertebrate ever to sport a modern jaw, researchers say

Sep 26, 2013 17:51 GMT  ·  By

A fish that swam in our planet's seas and oceans some 419 million years ago is now argued to be the first vertebrate ever to sport a modern jaw. Hence the scientists' saying that, all things considered, this creature had the world's first face.

In a paper published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature, specialists explain that this ancient fish species is known to the scientific community as Entelognathus primordialis.

It was part of a group of fish which all had bony armors on their heads and necks, and which are commonly referred to as placoderms.

This group of fish emerged about 460 million years ago, and became extinct some 70 million years later.

The claim that Entelognathus primordialis was the first species of vertebrates to have a modern jaw is based on fossil evidence recently unearthed in Yunnan, southwest China, Nature reports.

Thus, an Entelognathus primordialis specimen unearthed in this part of the world is so well preserved that scientists have been able to pin down the exact contours of its jaw.

Unlike other placoderms, this specimen's jaw was not shaped like a beak, and was not built out of bone plates, researchers say. On the contrary, it looked fairly similar to that of modern bony fish.

“Until now jaw bones have never been found in any placoderms,” Professor Min Zhu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing commented on these findings.

Following the discovery of these Entelognathus primordialis fossil remains, researchers say that they are left with no choice except reconsider the history of jawed vertebrates.

“Entelognathus demands a major rethink of where fossils fit relative to modern lineages and how these living groups came to acquire their characteristic traits,” Dr. Matt Friedman of Oxford University and Dr. Martin Brazeau of Imperial College London explain, as cited by Daily Mail.

“It will take time to fully digest the implications of such a remarkable fossil but it's clear a major re-framing of our understanding of early gnathostome [jawed vertebrate] evolution is now in full swing,” the paleontologists go on to say.