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Jawless versus Jawed Fishes

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State

Jawless fishes, such as lampreys, lack hinged jaws and feed by suction or rasping; jawed fishes evolved hinged jaws from modified gill-arch structures.

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A lamprey's round, rasping mouth contrasts with a shark's hinged jaw, which opens feeding strategies no jawless lineage has.

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Jawless fishes are not juvenile or incomplete jawed fishes — they are an early-diverging vertebrate lineage in their own right.