'Walking' fish help scientists to understand how we left the ocean
February 9, 2018 by Peter Falkingham, The Conversation
Our ancestors' transition out of the water and onto the land was a pivotal moment in evolution. No longer buoyed by water, early tetrapods (animals with four limbs) had to overcome gravity in order to move their bodies. Exactly how those early pioneers first evolved the fundamental capacity to walk has fascinated scientists for many years.
Fossil discoveries can tell us how and when vertebrates evolved the physical features needed to move onto land. But new research published in the journal Cell suggests that the neural circuitry needed to walk probably existed long before actual legs evolved. Because land-based animals and fish share the same circuitry today, their last common ancestor—an ancient fish which existed 420m years ago—probably also had that circuitry and used it to move around beneath the water.
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-fish-scientists-left-ocean.html#jCp
