#jawless fish

[herpsandbirds]

-_-

[theyshapedlikefriends]

Sacabampaspis (crane game prize from 2023)

[pansylair]

birthday gift art of the noble hagfish for my lovely boyfriend @rancidslime / @chewytoothmeats ! as he absolutely adores them❣️ :)

[alphynix]

Haikouichthys ercaicunensis was one of the earliest known vertebrates, living in what is now southwestern China during the Cambrian, around 518 million years ago.

About 2.5cm long (~1"), it had a streamlined body with a long fin along its back and tail. It lacked limbs and jaws, but it did have a flexible "upper lip" that could potentially have been used to manipulate food particles, either engulfing them on the seafloor or stirring them up into the water for filter-feeding.

And a recent study revealed a big surprise — it had four eyes! Along with its already-known large sideways-facing pair of eyes, it also had another smaller upwards-facing pair in the middle of its face, giving it a much wider field of vision and the ability to watch out for predators from multiple angles at once.

The extra pair of eyes may be the evolutionary precursors to the pineal complex in later vertebrates — represented in modern forms by the pineal gland and the parietal eye.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Kasal, Krystal. "Four-eyed Cambrian fish fossils hint at origins of vertebrate pineal complex" Phys.org, 22 Jan. 2026, https://phys.org/news/2026-01-eyed-cambrian-fish-fossils-hint.html

Lei, Xiangtong, et al. "Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period." Nature (2026): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09966-0

Mallatt, Jon. "Vertebrate origins are informed by larval lampreys (ammocoetes): a response to Miyashita et al., 2021." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 197.2 (2023): 287-321. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac086

Wikipedia contributors. “Haikouichthys” Wikipedia, 16 Mar. 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haikouichthys

[vintagewildlife]

Lamprey mouth By: George Skadding From: Life Nature Library: The Fishes 1963

[fossillad123]

O ▼ O

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Which prehistoric creature has the most Just Some Guy energy?

Sacabambaspis

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Hagfish!

Hagfish!

Hagfish!

Hagfish!

Excellent choice!!

Have you seen a hagfish (Order: Myxiniformes)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onMar 10

Photos are of an Atlantic hagfish, and a sixgill hagfish, respectively. Hagfish are the only known animals to have a skull while not having a vertebral column. They are one of two living groups of jawless fish, the other being lampreys.