A paleo theory

[Crankyjob21]

Now you guys can criticize me all you want with this theory, it’s just something I have thought of for a while. My theory is that hagfish (weird jawless fish with a primitive skull and no backbone) are in fact late surviving conodonts ( proto vertebrates from the Cambrian to late Triassic). First their Anatomy is very similar, a long eel like body, jawless appendages, and weird proto skulls. Another thing that’s supports my theory is that conodonts could have swam to deep water to escape environmental extinctions. So living in pitch dark water they lost their eyes but developed better olfactory senses to detect dead body’s and scavenge on them. It also explains why the conodonts in the deep sea are still alive because generally deep sea organisms are better at surviving mass extinctions. Another point is that hagfish are known from the Carboniferous, which is when conodonts were around, which could suggest that hagfish are just a family of conodonts. So yeah consider my theory, and write in the comments if you have any criticisms. Remember  this is a theory I have had for a while. 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Crankyjob21

[sharkdoctor]

It looks like there has been an academic article on this topic:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-5834-3_2#:~:text=Conodonts are an extinct group,age from Cambrian to Triassic.&text=Although conodont soft tissues suggest,of growth of these structures.