page_title: Evolution of fish
section_title: Fossil sites
hierarchical_section_title: Evolution of fish / Fossil sites
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Parc national de Miguasha (Québec), affleurement des couches dévoniennes riches en fossiles de poisson. English: Miguasha National Park (Québec), outcrop of the Devonian beds that are rich in fish fossils.
context_page_description: The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish lineages belong to the Agnatha, or jawless fish. Early examples include Haikouichthys. During the late Cambrian, eel-like jawless fish called the conodonts, and small mostly armoured fish known as ostracoderms, first appeared. Most jawless fish are now extinct; but the extant lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. Lampreys belong to the Cyclostomata, which includes the extant hagfish, and this group may have split early on from other agnathans.
  The earliest jawed vertebrates probably developed during the late Ordovician period. They are first represented in the fossil record from the Silurian by two groups of fish: the armoured fish known as placoderms, which evolved from the ostracoderms; and the Acanthodii. The jawed fish that are still extant in modern days also appeared during the late Silurian: the Chondrichthyes and the Osteichthyes. The bony fish evolved into two separate groups: the Actinopterygii and Sarcopterygii.
context_section_description: Some fossil sites that have produced notable fish fossils
  Abbey Wood SSSI
  Bracklesham Beds
  Bear Gulch Limestone
  Burgess Shale
  Canowindra
  Crato Formation
  Dura Den
  Feltville Formation
  Fossil Butte National Monument
  Fur Formation
  Gogo Formation
  Green's Creek
  Green River Formation
  Kakwa Provincial Park
  Land Grove Quarry
  Maotianshan Shales
  Matanuska Formation
  McAbee Fossil Beds
  Miguasha National Park
  MoClay
  Monte Bolca
  Mount Ritchie
  Orcadian Basin
  Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI
  Santana Formation
  Southerham Grey Pit
  Thanet Formation
  Towaco Formation
  Weydale
  Zhoukoudian
caption: Miguasha National Park: outcrop of Devonian beds rich in fossil fish
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