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About Materpiscis:
The prehistoric fish Materpiscis is known by only one fossil, but what a spectacular fossil it is: a full-grown female with the remains of an embryo nestled in its belly. What this means, incredibly, is that Materpiscis was viviparous, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs, like the vast majority of other fish. In fact, Materpiscis is the earliest viviparous vertebrate yet identified. (This fish is also unique for another reason: its name, which means "mother fish," is derived from Latin rather than Greek roots.)
Aside from its reproductive habits, Materpiscis is notable for being an example of a placoderm, the armored fishes that dominated the Devonian period. Like others of its breed, the front part of Materpiscis was covered by a tough coating of armored skin, and it probably ground up sea-floor-dwelling crustaceans with its toothless (but beaked) mouth.
