Sacabambaspis (Sack-ah-bam-bas-pis) was a jawless armored fish that lived during the Ordovician period, around 470 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Bolivia and across the Middle East, where it swam in shallow, ancient seas. Sacabambaspis is famous for its strange, flattened head shield and its small, front-facing eyes, which gave it a comical, almost cartoonish face. The rest of its body was long and flexible, covered in bony armor, and it likely spent its life sifting the sea floor for small particles of food. Sacabambaspis had no jaws, so it fed by suction, drawing in water and straining out tiny organisms. Despite its silly appearance, Sacabambaspis is an important fossil: it is one of the best-known early vertebrates, and its well-preserved remains have helped paleontologists understand the very beginnings of the fish family tree.
