jawless vertebrate - eel-shaped vertebrate without jaws or paired appendages including the cyclostomes and some extinct formsAgnatha, superclass Agnatha - superclass of eel-shaped chordates lacking jaws and pelvic fins: lampreys; hagfishes; some extinct forms ostracoderm - extinct fishlike jawless vertebrate having a heavily armored body; of the Paleozoic heterostracan - extinct jawless fish with the anterior part of the body covered with bony plates; of the Silurian and Devonian anaspid - extinct small freshwater jawless fish usually having a heterocercal tail and an armored head; of the Silurian and Devonian conodont - small (2 in) extinct eellike fish with a finned tail and a notochord and having cone-shaped teeth containing cellular bone; late Cambrian to late Triassic; possible predecessor of the cyclostomes hagfish, slime eels, hag - eellike cyclostome having a tongue with horny teeth in a round mouth surrounded by eight tentacles; feeds on dead or trapped fishes by boring into their bodies |