Description

Pterichthyodes milleri
Fish
Devonian
Old Red Sandstone
Achanarras, Orkney, Scotland

170mm x 195mm antiarch placoderm on 225mm slab. Repaired, but very displayable. Rare.

Pterichthyodes is one of the placoderms (Class Placodermi), a group of diverse armored fishes that ruled the Devonian seas.  This genus had an armored body and even armored fins that were jointed in way that may have allowed it to walk on or probe into the ocean bottom.

Pterichthyodes is one of the lesser-known extinct fishes but it has appeared on a trading card, a stamp, and as a plaster model any one of which might be as hard to find as a fossil specimen.