The Climatiiformes is an order of extinct fish belonging to the class
Acanthodii
Acanthodii or acanthodians is an extinct class of gnathostomes (jawed fishes), typically considered a paraphyletic group. They are currently considered to represent a grade of various fish lineages leading up to the extant Chondrichthyes, whi ...
. Like most other "spiny sharks", the Climatiiformes had sharp spines. These animals were often fairly small in size and lived from the Late
Silurian to the Early
Carboniferous period. The type genus is ''
Climatius''. The order used to be subdivided into the
suborders Climatiida and Diplacanthida, but subsequently Diplacanthida has been elevated to a separate order, the
Diplacanthiformes
Diplacanthiformes (also known as Diplacanthida, Diplacanthoidei, or Diplacanthini) is an order of acanthodian fishes which lived during the Devonian Period
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60. ...
. The Diplacanthiformes take their name from ''
Diplacanthus'', first described by Agassiz in 1843. Family
Gyracanthidae
Gyracanthidae is an family of extinct fish belonging to the class Acanthodii, known from early Devonian to late Carboniferous. Members are characterized by large, broad-based, paired fin spines with the pectoral fin spines having a distinct lo ...
is sometimes rejected from this order.
References
Acanthodii
Prehistoric fish orders
Paraphyletic groups
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