Description

Tremataspis schmidti
Anaspid
Upper Silurian
Rootsikula Formation
Island of Oesel, Estonia

Two headshields 16mm and 28mm on 150mm matrix.

Tremataspis is a genus of armored jawless fish known from the Silurian of Europe.  It bore one body shield with holes for the mouth, eyes and other sensory organs. It has been proposed that this fish was not as good of a swimmer as some its relatives – likely a burrower in search of food as it hid from predators.

The osteostracans appeared during the Early Silurian and were quite diverse by the Early Devonian but they became rare and died out by the end of the period.

A rare piece with not just one but two shields of a truly ancient fish.