A highly varied invertebrate fauna that originated in the preceding Silurian Period continued in the Devonian, and most ecological niches of shallow and deep marine water were exploited. The remarkable proliferation of primitive fishes, which has given the period the name the “Age of Fishes,” occurred in both fresh and marine waters. Derivation of carnivorous fishes from mud-eating forms occurred early in the period, and tetrapods (four-legged land animals) were derived from fishes near the middle of the period. Also remarkable is the rise to dominance of vascular plants. Though groves of trees must have arisen earlier to provide the widespread plant debris noted in Devonian deposits, the first known evidence of in-place forests dates from the Middle Devonian.
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