Astraspis
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Name: Astraspis
(Star shield).
Phonetic: As-tra-as-piss.
Named By: Walcott - 1892.
Classification: Chordata, Pteraspida, Astraspida.
Species: A. desiderata
(type), A. splendens.
Diet: Filter feeder?
Size: Estimated to about 20 centimetres long.
Known locations: North America, possibly Bolivia
as well.
Time period: Darriwilian to Katian of the Ordovician.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.
Named for the star shaped denticles that covered the body, Astraspis was an Ordovician era jawless fish similar to Arandaspis and Sacabambaspis. Astraspis also seems to have had a lateral line, a series of sensory organs that run down length of the sides of the body, as in modern fish.
Further reading
- Astraspis: The anatomy and histology of an
Ordovician fish, I.
J. Sansom, M. P. Smith & P. Turner - 1997.
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