An extinct primitive shark from the Devonian period, about 360 million years ago, that had fin spines and a relatively modern shark body shape.
From Greek 'klados' (branch) + 'selache' (shark). Named by paleontologists in the 1890s based on fossils found in Ohio shale deposits.
Cladoselache is basically the 'missing link' between jawless fish and modern sharks—it has the teeth and jaws of a real shark but fins that look weirdly modern, like evolution was testing out different designs.
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