| Line | Conodonts, the spiky phosphatic remains (bones |
| and teeth composed of calcium phosphate) of |
| tiny marine animals that probably appeared about |
| 520 million years ago, were once among the most |
| (5) | controversial of fossils. Both the nature of the |
| organism to which the remains belonged and the |
| function of the remains were unknown. However, |
| since the 1981 discovery of fossils preserving not |
| just the phosphatic elements but also other remains |
| (10) | of the tiny soft-bodied animals (also called conodonts) |
| that bore them, scientists’ reconstructions of the |
| animals’ anatomy have had important implications |
| for hypotheses concerning the development of the |
| vertebrate skeleton. |
| (15) | The vertebrate skeleton had traditionally been |
| regarded as a defensive development, champions of |
| this view postulating that it was only with the much |
| later evolution of jaws that vertebrates became |
| predators. The first vertebrates, which were soft- |
| (20) | bodied, would have been easy prey for numerous |
| invertebrate carnivores, especially if these early |
| vertebrates were sedentary suspension feeders. |
| Thus, traditionalists argued, these animals developed |
| coverings of bony scales or plates, and teeth were |
| (25) | secondary features, adapted from the protective |
| bony scales. Indeed, external skeletons of this |
| type are common among the well-known fossils of |
| ostracoderms, jawless vertebrates that existed from |
| approximately 500 to 400 million years ago. |
| (30) | However, other paleontologists argued that many of |
| the definitive characteristics of vertebrates, such as |
| paired eyes and muscular and skeletal adaptations |
| for active life, would not have evolved unless the |
| first vertebrates were predatory. Teeth were more |
| (35) | primitive than external armor according to this view, |
| and the earliest vertebrates were predators. |
| The stiffening notochord along the back of the |
| body, V-shaped muscle blocks along the sides, |
| and posterior tail fins help to identify conodonts as |
| (40) | among the most primitive of vertebrates. The lack of |
| any mineralized structures apart from the elements |
| in the mouth indicates that conodonts were more |
| primitive than the armored jawless fishes such as the |
| ostracoderms. It now appears that the hard parts that |
| (45) | first evolved in the mouth of an animal improved its |
| efficiency as a predator, and that aggression rather |
| than protection was the driving force behind the origin |
| of the vertebrate skeleton. |