Here's a Youtube Video (originally from Nature):
Long, J., Trinajstic, K., & Johanson, Z. (2009). Devonian arthrodire embryos and the origin of internal fertilization in vertebrates Nature, 457 (7233), 1124-1127 DOI: 10.1038/nature07732
Abstract: Evidence of reproductive biology is extremely rare in the fossil record. Recently the first known embryos were discovered within the Placodermi, an extinct class of armoured fish, indicating a viviparous mode of reproduction in a vertebrate group outside the crown-group Gnathostomata (Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes). These embryos were found in ptyctodontids, a small group of placoderms phylogenetically basal to the largest group, the Arthrodira. Here we report the discovery of embryos in the Arthrodira inside specimens of Incisoscutum ritchiei from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of
Check out the Museum Victoria's Website for more info on Mother Materpiscis.
The second Devonian fish story that slipped away is one that has been retold since 1892 and really has some teeth to it!
In fact, teeth are all that it has to it – fossil teeth. Back in 1892 Woodward described the Devonian chondrichthyan Protodus jexi from the Lower Devonian Campbellton Formation in New Brunswick based on teeth recovered from the site. Several months ago, Susan Turner and Randall Miller published a follow-up examination of these teeth in Acta Geologica Polonica and determined the fish to be representative of the first predatory fish.
Here’s their conclusion:
Protodus jexi is known from one locality on the Campbellton shoreline of northern New Brunswick and represents the first chondrichthyan with predator style teeth. Given the nature of shark dentitions, the known 60 or so teeth might belong to one dentition. The paratypes and probably the syntypes include a tooth file of four associated dagger-like teeth with serrated cristae. The large subrectangular to D-shaped Protodus toothbase is similar and might be phylogenetically related to the cladodont type. Contemporaries Celtiberina and Stigmodus might be closely related or the similar tooth features might reflect functionality, with large laterally extended bases providing such ‘protodontidid’ teeth with a ‘solid’ root resisting movement and assisting an efficient predatory bite.
A Couple of Fossil Protodus jexi Teeth. Source Turner & Miller Article
SUSAN TURNER,RANDALL F. MILLER (2008). Protodus jexiWoodward, 1892 (Chondrichthyes),from the Lower Devonian Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada Acta Geologica Polonica, 58 (2), 133-145
The article is available HERE.
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