Haikouichthys

Haikouichthys is an extinct early fish-like craniate.

These creatures have backbones and distinct heads, and lived about 530 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion.  

Haikouichthys had a defined skull and other characters which suggest it is a true craniate, and perhaps one of the earliest fishes. Cladistic analysis indicates that the animal is probably a basal chordate or a basal craniate.Paleos.   It does not show enough detail to be definitely included in either stem group.Donoghue P.C.J. & Purnell M.A. 2005. Genome duplication, extinction and vertebrate evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20 (6): 312–319.  Shu D-G. et al. 2003. Head and backbone of the early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys. Nature 421, 526-9, 

 References 

Category:Agnatha