Class Agnatha

Class Agnatha

Agnatha is Latin for "without jaws". These are the lamprey eels, parasitic swimming suckers! Lampreys are jawless but have well developed eyes and excellent vision, to help search for fish "hosts". Descended directly from Ostracoderm, a jawless bottom-feeding vertebrate of 400MYA with a single pair of fins. There are some 30 species of lamprey found in both marine and freshwater. [BM] {FW}