Hexanchiformes - Six-gill sharks

The Hexanchiformes are the order consisting of the most primitive types of sharks, and numbering just seven extant species. Fossil sharks that were apparently very similar to modern sevengill species are known from Jurassic specimens.

Hexanchiform sharks have only one dorsal fin, either six or seven gill slits, and no nictitating membrane in the eyes. Shark teeth similar to those modern hexanchids are known from Devonian deposits in Antarctica and Australia, as well as Permian deposits in Japan. If these are in fact hexanchids, this may be the only extant order of elasmobranchs to have survived after the Permian extinction (and by extension, the oldest extant order of elasmobranchs).

The frilled sharks of the genus Chlamydoselachus are very different from the cow sharks, and have been proposed to be moved to a distinct order, Chlamydoselachiformes.