 Thorough anatomical examinations of whole fossil specimens reveal that the profound similarities between these two groups are actually very superficial.The major differences between them were that holocephalians have shagreen on their skin and ptyctodontids did not, that the armored plates and scales of holocephalians are made of dentine, and the armored plates and scales of ptyctodontids were made of bone, the anatomy of the craniums of holocephalians is more similar to sharks, and that of ptyctodontids were more similar to those of other placoderms, and, most importantly, the holocephalians have true teeth, while the ptyctodonts had beak-like tooth-plates.The Ptyctodontida were the only known group of placoderms that were recognizably sexually dimorphic, in that the males had hook-like growths on their pelvic fins that were analogous to the clasping organs found in male sharks, and chimaeras.