Two late Scottish relatives of Jamoytius

Cornovichthys blaauweni.

The now flooded Achanarras fish beds in Caithness, Northern Scotland, has yielded an abundant collection of fossil fish belonging to some 15 genera dating from the Eifelian stage (about 390 MYA) of the Middle Devonian period. These include the arthrodire (a group of heavily armored jawed fish) Coccosteus cuspidatus, the Acanthodians (“spiny sharks”) Diplacanthus, Mesacanthus and Cheiracanthus, the enigmatic Palaeospondylus gunni, the early Actinopterygian (ray-finned fish) Cheirolepis treilli and the Sarcopterygians (lobed-finned fish) Osteolepis macrolepidotus and Dipterus valenciennesi. The agnathans (jawless fish) are a rarity there and consist of only two species, Cornovichthys blaaweni and Achanarella trewini, which are believed to be closely related to Jamoytius kerwoodi from the Silurian, and placed in the clade Jamoytiiforms. The limestone of Achanarras quarry has been deposited in what appear to have been a deep freshwater lake environment.

Cornovichthys blaauweni is known from a single carbonaceous impression of a complete specimen measuring a little over 10 cm in length. The body is long and slender with a hypocercal tail and a quite large anal fin. There is no evidence of any other fin, nor of any scale in the specimen. Eyes appear to be situated near the top surface of the head. Overall, Cornovichthys looks a lot like Euphanerops and like its Canadian counterpart has a long series of branchial openings running from the head to the anal fin, numbering to around 15 on each side of the body.

Achanarella trewini.

Achanarella trewini is known from many specimens that were found in large numbers on single slabs of rock. Individuals of Achanarella range in size from 2 cm to 9 cm in length. Like Cornovichthys, it has a hypocercal tail and a large anal fin, no apparent scale and a large number of branchial openings on each side of the body, 13 or more, but the body is much thinner and elongated and the head is extremely small. Just like Jamoytius and Euphanerops, Cornovichthys and Achanarella were probably feeding on micro-organisms and detritus through their jawless mouth.

Reference:

Newman, M., & Trewin, N. (2001). A new jawless vertebrate from the Middle Devonian of Scotland. Palaeontology, 44, 43–51.

Newman, M. (2002). A new naked jawless vertebrate from the Middle Devonian of Scotland. Palaeontology, 45(5), 933–941.