The earliest sharks (class Chondrichthyes) first appeared in the Early Devonian about 400 million years ago, became quite prominent by the end of the Devonian, and are still successful today. Two Early Devonian orders of primitive sharklike fishes, the Cladoselachiformes and the Cladodontiformes, became extinct by the end of the Permian, about 251 million years ago, while the freshwater order Xenacanthiformes lasted until the end of the Triassic, about 200 million years ago. The final Devonian order, Heterodontiformes, still has surviving members.

Modern sharks and rays arose during the Jurassic Period, about 200 million to 145.5 million years ago, probably from an older group, the hybodont sharks. Presumably marine cladoselachians gave rise to the hybodont Heterodontiformes during the close of the Devonian. These had the placoderm amphystylic jaws but had paired fins of a more efficient type. In turn the hybodonts are thought to have given rise to the living but archaic mollusk-eating Port Jackson sharks (heterodonts). The relationships of the surviving (but archaic) hexanchiform sharks are unknown. The three main orders of modern Selachii—the Carcharhiniformes (ground sharks) and Lamniformes (mackerel sharks) and Rajiformes (skates and rays)—appeared during the Jurassic Period. They are characterized by a hyostylic jaw (in which articulation involves only the hyoid bone), an improvement allowing greater mobility of the jaws and an important feature in the methods of predation used by modern selachians.

Skates and rays evolved from some bottom-living sharklike ancestor during the Jurassic. The primary evolution and diversification of modern sharks, skates, and rays took place in the Cretaceous Period and Cenozoic Era. Thus, along with the teleost fishes (discussed below), most surviving sharks, skates, and rays are essentially of relatively recent origin, their main evolutionary radiation having taken place since Jurassic times.

Holocephali

The class Holocephali—the chimaeras or ratfishes, as their modern survivors are called—first appeared in the Late Devonian but were most common and diversified during the Mesozoic Era. Only one of the seven known orders survived beyond the close of the Cretaceous Period 65.5 million years ago. Although not many modern species of chimaeras are known, they are sometimes relatively abundant in their deep-sea habitat.

The relationships of these fishes are in question. It has been proposed that they are related to the Devonian ptyctodont arthrodires, which had a chimaera-like shape and pelvic claspers. It has also been suggested that they are closely related to the Selachii because both selachians and holocephalians have many characters in common, such as placoid scales, pelvic claspers, and the absence of true bone. It has been suggested that both holocephalians and selachians are related to the acanthodians on the basis of the gill arch structures. Further evidence is needed to solve the problem of their classification and relationships.

Sarcopterygii: fleshy-finned fishes

Fishes of the class Sarcopterygii are extremely ancient in origin, their first remains appearing in Lower Devonian strata of Germany. Some authorities contend that the rhipidistians, one of the three groups of sarcopterygians, gave rise to the amphibians by the end of the Devonian; however, other authorities believe that tetrapods evolved from one of two other groups, the coelacanths and the dipnoans (lungfish). The rhipidistians became extinct about 120 million years later, near the beginning of the Permian, but the coelacanths and the dipnoans have survived, albeit in small numbers. The primitive sarcopterygians show several similarities, supporting the view that they had a common ancestor. The nature of the ancestor remains a mystery. The sarcopterygians probably evolved from unknown Silurian jawed freshwater fishes that may also have been ancestral to the actinopterygians.

Some authorities support the idea that rhipidistian crossopterygians flourished in the fresh waters of the Middle Devonian where, in adapting to a habitat subject to seasonal droughts, some evolved pectoral and pelvic appendages strong enough and flexible enough to enable them to leave drying pools to seek out those ponds that retained water. Paradoxically, terrestrial amphibians first arose through the need to survive in water.

The early coelacanths of the Late Devonian were small freshwater and inshore fishes, and it was not until the Late Permian and Triassic that they became marine and grew larger and more diverse. They are not known as fossils later than the Cretaceous, and it was therefore a great surprise when in 1938 a live 160-cm (63-inch) specimen was taken at 120 metres (approximately 390 feet) depth off the coast of eastern South Africa. A second living coelacanth species was discovered off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 1997.

The dipnoans first appeared in the Early Devonian and were fully differentiated at that time. They flourished until the close of the Triassic, when their numbers became greatly reduced. The modern Australian lungfish differs little from one of the Triassic forms. The living South American and especially African lungfishes are elongated, specialized fishes adapted to live and survive in more or less annual ponds.