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This becautiful framed replica Bothriolepis was found in Scaumemac Bay, Ontario, Canada and dates from the Middle to Late Devonian.

Bothriolepis belongs to a now-extinct group of primitive-jawed armored fish called Placodermi. Their heads were heavily armored with the rest of the body covered by small scales. The Placoderms are divided into two groups (arthodires and antiarchs). Among the arthrodires were the Dunkleosteus, which had large bony heads with shearing jaws much like scissors blades.

The antiarch�s (most commonly represented by Bothriolepis), front part of the body was made up of a series of connecting plates of bone. Its pair of pectoral fins were armored as well. When these fins were extended from the thoracic armor it gave a winged appearance and thus the name �winged fish�. Bothriolepis may have had a cartilaginous vertebral column, but due to the soft tissue of the posterior of the body, little is preserved in the fossil record.

Bothriolepis was probably a slow moving fish, which sifted and sorted for small animals and other edible materials from the sand and mud with its weak jawed mouth. Its bony pectoral fins may have been used to dig in the bottom to loosen food items or crawl over land from pool to pool. Another interesting feature of Bothriolepis is that both eyes located on top it its skull, had a common socket.