The Devonian Period 419 to 359 million years ago is sometimes called the “Age of Fishes” because of the amazing diversity and abundance of fish species. An ocean covered approximately 85 percent of the Devonian globe and the climate is thought to have been warm.
The Devonian is recognised for the rapid diversification in fish. These early fish include a number of different groups including benthic, jawless and armored fish which are all common. The placoderms the first jawed fish appeared, over time they reached large sizes and were fearsome predators. The first sarcopterygians lobe-finned fish appeared too, eventually leading to the first tetrapods.
Canowindra Fish Fossils
The fossils at Canowindra were formed when a pond on the supercontinent of Gondwana dried up and thousands of fish died in a single place. They were covered with silt and buried for millions of years, waiting to be discovered by Fred the bulldozer driver.
Canowindra fish fossils
The distinctive coiled shell of the ammonites first appeared early in the Devonian. The shallow seas were dominated by brachiopods and by tabulate and rugose corals, which built large reefs in the shallow waters. Bivalves, crinoid and echinoderms, graptolites, and trilobites were all present.
During this period terrestrial plants become more common and the first forest are seen. The first terrestrial arthropods including wingless insects, myriapods and the earliest arachnids appeared. In the late Devonian the first four-legged amphibians began colonizing the land.
In the Late Devonian there was a rapid appearance of many plant groups and growth forms. This diversification in terrestrial vegetation enabled the diversification of the arthropods.
Watch: PBS Eons: When Fish Wore Armour
420 million years ago, some fish were more medieval. They wore armour, sometimes made of big plates, and sometimes made of interlocking scales. But that armour may actually have served a totally different purpose, one that many animals still use today. Produced for PBS Digital Studios.
Find out more with Ginkgo Traces
The Age of Fish is here, and you are navigating a boat through the impressive Devonian period! While the land finally has large forests, the real action is in the most breathtaking reefs ever to exist on Earth. Fish diversity is in overdrive, and you’re about to meet some strange fish indeed. Come meet armoured placoderms with teeth like interlocking blades, fish with weird helmets and no jaws, speedy sharks, and the first fish to walk on dry land.
