this thing called fish whether a turtle,
snail or whatever because to me it is
just too old to have survived for that
long, well this is EARTH so anything is
possible…. A team of international
scientists have found a fish fossil at the
bottom of a reservoir that is the oldest
known creature with a face. It's always
nice to catch up with an old face – and
here's one from 419 million years ago…
And they believe it is the "missing link"
in the development of vertebrates,
offering more clues to the evolution of
humans. Experts have described the
discovery in China as "stunning".
Palaeontologist Professor John Long of
Flinders University, Adelaide, said: "It
finally solves an age-old problem about
the origin of modern fishes. "We now
know prehistoric fish gave rise to the
modern fish fauna as we know it."
Fellow palaeontologist Matt Friedman
added: "It will take time to fully digest
the implications of such a remarkable
fossil, but it is clear that a major
reframing of our understanding of early
jawed vertebrate evolution is now in
full swing." The fish they found would
have been eight-inches long and
armour plated. It is the most primitive
vertebrate discovered with a modern
jaw, and includes a bone found in
humans. British fossil expert Matt
Friedman said of the creature: "It is the
deepest branch of our family tree that
bears the kinds of jaw bones found in
humans. "This is an unexpected
discovery that inverts schoolbook
teaching on the evolution of bony
skulls. "Up until now it had been
thought the anatomical peculiarities of
bony fishes, the group that would
eventually give rise to human beings,
are specialisations that arose later in
vertebrate evolutionary history in our
own bony fish lineage. "But now that
narrative has been turned on its head."
The fossil was shown off by Professor
Min Zhu, one of the team of scientists
who found it, in his Beijing laboratory.
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