The Evolution of Armored Fish

 Water as you can see, has been around for thousands and thousands of years. Not only do living organisms need water for their survival, but also for their transformation to adapt to their environment. For example the Armored fishes.

Armored fishes has been around for many centuries and goes way back to the Paleozoic Period. Throughout centuries, armored fishes had evolutionary transform to adapt to their environment for their need of survival due to movements and placement of the continents and changes in sea temperature. According to Freddie (2005), Most of the world was covered in water during the Paleozoic Period, and much of the shallow seas left preserved fossils for us to study the evolution of armored fishes. With the fossils left for us to observe and analyze, we can tell how armored fishes had evolved and changed throughout centuries. The first of the armored fish appeared during the Ordovician 150 million years ago states Freddie (2005). They are actually specifically named ostracoderms due to the time period in which they existed and from their physical features.

Ostracoderms as Freddie describes, has a bony plate on the outside of their cartilaginous body, and their mouth is located either on the bottom or the front of their head (2005). Some ostracoderms such as the sacabambpis does not have front fins, and like an eel, they have a rear fin in which they move in a "S" motion rather that using their fins to move (Freddie 2005). But during the Silurian period, a bony vertebrate started to appear in fishes. Fishes also started to have complicated structures such as more fins and spikes on them. They were now able to swim and have more control of their motion than swimming in a "S" motion. This evolution was due to the movements and placements of the continents in which cause them to adapt to their surroundings and environment.

During the Silurian period, a bony vertebral colum began to appear in fishes states Fredding (2005). This was when fishes started to have bones, structures, and spikes on their body. The cause of the evolution was due to the shifts of continents and salty water. Placoderms (armored fishes) which appeared during the Silurian replaced the armored fishes in the Devonian period. The  fishes had jaws which derived from gills that took on a function like a jaw (Freddie 2005). Unlike the previous armored fishes the Placoderm fishes were able to control and swim in the directions they want to.

Now compare these fishes to the fishes that the world has today. Fishes had evolved dramatically from when they existed to the year 2011. Fishes now has the ability to adapt in certain areas to survive and have better physical traits that can help them. Now the only thing that can stop these fishes from evolving to their best self, is to have their environment (sea) kill or change their genetic form.

Freddie, Arreola. "The Evolution of Armored Fish." skywalker. N.p., 01/26/2010. Web. 5 May 2011. <http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/armored-fish/armored-fish.htm>.