Definition of "Agnatha"

The jawless fishes, or agnathans; they have backbones and skulls like the scaly fishes, and like reptiles, mammals and other vertebrates on land, but they do not have paired jaws like humans or sharks; instead their mouthparts are round; they suck onto their prey or food and rasp away bits that they then swallow.

1. A taxonomic superclass within the subphylum Vertebrata.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The known members of the class Agnatha are a very small representation of those that once existed; and they present a great variety of character, having little affinity with each other.

     1889, Edward Drinker Cope, “Synopsis of the Families of Vertebrata”, in The American Naturalist, volume 23 (in English), page 852

   • Current classification schemes have living fishes assigned to two superclasses (Agnatha, or jawless chordates, and Gnathostomata, or jawed chordates)[…].

     2007, Chad Thomas et al., Freshwater Fishes of Texas (in English), Texas A&M University Press, page 6

2. A taxonomic infraphylum within the subphylum Vertebrata.  examples