![]() ![]() ![]() Reefs are well known as biodiversity hotspots, so it is perhaps not surprising that Bolca provides us with the first evidence of many modern fish groups," said Friedman. ![]() This remarkable site provides a snapshot of an early coral reef assemblage. "This fossil comes from Bolca in northern Italy, a site that has literally been mined for hundreds of years for its fossil fishes. Heteronectes, with its flattened form, shows the perfect intermediate stage between most fish with eyes on each side of the head and specialized flatfishes where both eyes are on the same side. This study provides the first detailed description of a primitive flatfish, revealing that the migrated eye had not yet crossed to the opposite side of the skull in early members of this group. Friedman's fossil fish, named Heteronectes (meaning 'different swimmer'), was found in 50 million year old marine rocks from northern Italy. This missing link in the evolution of flatfishes has been seen as a hole in the theory of natural selection.A new fossil discovery described in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology by Oxford University researcher Dr Matt Friedman finally solves the mystery. “The important thing about this study is it delivers evidence of those intermediates,” said Matt Friedman of The Field Museum and the University of Chicago, whose study appears in the journal Nature. The 50 million-year-old fossils - which have one eye near the top of their heads - help explain how flatfish such as flounder, sole and halibut developed the strange but useful trait of having both eyes on one side.įor flatfish, which lie on their sides at the bottom of the sea, this arrangement gives them the use of two watchful eyes.īut the trait has posed a problem for evolutionary biologists because no one had found any so-called transitional fossils - fossils showing intermediate steps in the evolution of this trait. Some odd-looking fish fossils discovered in the bowels of several European museums may help solve a lingering question about evolutionary theory, U.S. This undated handout image shows an evolutionary tree with the gradual anatomical changes in the evolution of flatfishes resulting in the origin of their extraordinary, modern body plan. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |