Timeline: Paleozoic fishes

A loose compilation of large fishes that represent important characteristics of the late Paleozoic: Below, the osteolepiform Eusthenopteron, a tetrapodomorph of the open water and a strike hunter with a functionally doubled caudal fluke. In the middle, another sarcopterygian, Ichthyostega, which could not yet walk, but was able to crawl on its extremities, is sometimes already classified as a tetrapod, more cautiously as a stegocephalian. Above, the xenacanthiform cartilaginous fish Orthacanthus from the stem group of sharks and rays.

digital painting, 2024

Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP Burg Lichtenberg (Pfalz) / previous versions sarcopterygians in Bild der Wissenschaft 8-2018