Scientists may have identified the earliest-known face.
The Entelognathus primordialis was an ancient fish that swam in the China sea around 419 million years ago, LiveScience reported. The fish provides clues to how vertebrate faces developed over time.
Scientists used the believe the ancient gnathostomes 9a group of jawed vertebrates) "would have looked something like a shark, devoid of armor and with a largely cartilaginous skull," study leader Min Zhu, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology told LiveScience.
Most fish from this time period had jaws made out of simple cartilage; Entelognathus had a strikingly modern jawbone similar to what would be seen in a human or other mammal, USA Today reported.
"This is like finding the nose of a space shuttle in a hay wagon from the Middle Ages," paleontologist Xiaobo Yu of Kean University," told USA Today.
The first like fish fossil was found in China in 2010. When researchers examined the fossil they noticed it had an interesting set of "armor" made from bony plates. It also boasted a flat forehead and eyes that were stuck in place.
Researchers compared the fish's jaw with more modern vertebrates. They also looked at them using a computer imaging technique called X-ray micro-computerized tomography.
Researchers believe two groups of animals were spawned from Entelognathus' branch. Sharks and rays are believed to be descended from the ancient fish, as well as bony fish.
"This is certainly an amazing discovery, both because of its age [Silurian] and the morphology of the lower jaw," Gavin Young, a zoologist at Australian National University in Canberra who was not involved in the study, told LiveScience.
"[It's] a little bombshell," University of Chicago paleontologist Michael Coates told USA Today. ""It's important ... because it's unexpected. It does present something we had no hint of before."
