Having no jaws or jaw-like structures, used to describe certain primitive fish and other organisms lacking mandibles.
From Greek 'a-' (without) + 'gnathos' (jaw). The term was coined in zoology during the 19th century to classify jawless fish like lampreys and hagfish.
Agnathous creatures are some of Earth's most ancient animals—lampreys and hagfish have existed for over 360 million years without evolving jaws, proving that not having jaws is sometimes a winning evolutionary strategy!
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