Morphology and histology of acanthodian fin spines from the late Silurian Ramsåsa E locality, Skåne, Swede

Abstract

Comparisons of acanthodians to extant gnathostomes are often hampered by the paucity of mineralized structures in their endoskeleton, which limits the potential preservation of phylogenetically informative traits. Fin spines, mineralized dermal structures that sit anterior to fins, are found on both stem-and crown-group gnathostomes, and represent an additional potential source of comparative data for studying acanthodian relationships with the other groups of early gnathostomes. An assemblage of isolated acanthodian fin spines from the late Silurian Ramsasa site E locality (southern Sweden) has been reconstructed in 3D using propagation phase contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography (PPC-SR mu CT). The aim is to provide morphological and taxo-nomical affinities for the spines by combining morphology and histology with the taxo-nomical framework previously established for the site mainly based on isolated scales. The high-resolution scans also enable investigations of the composition and growth of acanthodian fin spines when compared to similar studies of extinct and extant gnathostomes. In total, seven fin spine morphotypes that have affinities to both Climatiidae Berg 1940 and Ischnacanthiformes Berg 1940 are described. The majority are interpreted as median fin spines, but three possible paired spines are also identified. The spines display differences in their compositions, but generally agree with that presented for climatiids and ischnacanthiforms in previous studies. Their inferred growth modes appear to be more similar to those of fossil and extant chondrichthyan fin spines than to those described from placoderms and stem-osteichthyans, which is congruent with the emerging view of acanthodians as stem-chondrichthyans.