Two fossils of the primitive fish Osteolepis macrolepidotus,a rhipidistian from the Middle Devonian period (around 370 million years ago). The fish has a broad,flattened head & a tapering body covered with large,boney,rhomboidal scales. The rhipidistians are an extinct group of freshwater fish which gave rise to the earliest terrestrial tetrapods,the amphibians,and hence,ultimately,to all land vertebrates. The rhipid- istians,along with their close relatives the coelocanths,form the order Crossopterygii. This specimen was found in Old Red Sandstone in the Sandwick fish beds at Quoyloo,Orkney,Scotland |