Jamoytius
Name: Jamoytius.
Phonetic: Jam-oi-te-us.
Named By: Errol White 1946.
Classification: Chordata, Hyperoartia.
Species: J. kerwoodi (type).
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: Around 27 centimetres long.
Known locations: Scotland.
Time period: Llandovery to Ludlow of the Silurian.
Fossil representation: Few specimens.
Jamoytius
was a jawless fish of the Silurian, though its credibility has in
the past been cast in doubt. Several researchers examined the
original fossils and rather than interpreting them as the carbonised
remains of muscles, they interpreted them as the scales of an
anapsid reptile. Later fossil discoveries however, including
specimens with the mouth preserved re-conformed White’s original
interpretation that Jamoytius was indeed a jawless
fish. That said,
some past fossil specimens once attributed to Jamoytius
have now been
found not to belong to the genus.
For
lack of a better description, Jamoytius seems to
resemble a modern
lamprey in form, and may have lived in a similar manner, rasping
away at the body of another fish before latching on and sucking blood
from its target. However, hard teeth are so far unknown and so
Jamoytius might have been swum around looking for
small organisms to
suck into its mouth. Jamoytius had an elongated
body with long fins
along its back and flanks. The jawless mouth of Jamoytius
was faced
forwards from the front. The position of the mouth makes it less
likely that Jamoytius was a detritivore because
most fish that lived
that way during the Silurian had their mouths on the undersides of the
head.
Further reading
- Jamoytius kerwoodi, a new chordate from the
Silurian of Lanarkshire
[Scotland]. - Geological Magazine. 83 (2): 89–97. - E. I. White - 1946.
- A new interpretation of Jamoytius kerwoodi White
- A. Ritchie - 1960.
- New Evidence on Jamoytius kerwoodi White, An
Important
Ostracoderm From The Silurian of Lanarkshire, Scotland, Alexander
Ritchie - 1968.
- Taphonomy and Affinity of an Enigmatic Silurian Vertebrate, Jamoytius
Kerwoodi White. - Palaeontology. 53 (6): 1393–1409. - Robert
S. Sansom
Kim Freedman Sarah E. Gabbott Richard J. Aldridge Mark A. Purnell -
2010.
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