Cladoselache fyleri

Cladoselache fyleri. Pencil, 2010.

The upper reconstruction of Cladoselache shows it with "naked" dorsal spines (which seems to be the more popular interpretation among the paleoartists judging from the artworks found on the internet).

The lower reconstruction represents Cladoselache with dorsal spines covered with skin. I was told by a PhD student who is currently working on early chondrichthyans that this option is more probable than the "naked" spines.

References: This reconstruction is based on a famous skeletal drawing of Cladoselache (modified from Bendix-Almgreen, 1975). Unfortunately I don't know the name of the scientific paper/book this skeletal comes from.

As references were used artworks by from the book "Les Requins sont-ils des fossiles vivants ?" and from his DA gallery.