Scientists have discovered the fish from which man descended
Australian scientists have discovered a 25-centimeter fossil fish in the Gogow area, which is 375 million years old.
The fish vaguely resembles a shark, and a well-preserved embryo with an umbilical cord was found in its belly. Paleontologists have already declared this discovery to be very important, since the find is the earliest evidence of motherhood on Earth, reports Press-line.
“This is not only the first time that a fossilized embryo has been found with an umbilical cord, but it is also the oldest known example of a viviparous creature,” commented renowned paleontologist John Long.
The discovery is also the earliest evidence of sexual reproduction in vertebrates: when males, using organs similar to pterygopodia of modern sharks and rays, internally fertilized females, adds Long. (Pterygopodia - copulatory organs formed by outgrowths of the pelvic fins, providing the introduction of seminal fluid into the cloaca of the female)
Keith Trinadzhstick, another paleontologist who also took part in the expedition, believes the discovery gives scientists a new approach to studying the evolution of living things. The find shows that the main body of the body, from which later other vertebrates, including humans, developed, existed already 380 million years ago. "This is very important, because before that we thought that laying eggs was the earliest way of reproduction in fish." - said Trinajstick.
The fossil found in the GoGow area of Western Australia was named Materpiscis attenboroughi, after the British naturalist David Attenborough, who first brought the region to the attention of researchers in his 1979 documentary Life on Earth.
Promotional video:
Attenborough told Professor Long in a letter that he was thrilled by this decision: "I am extremely flattered that you will give my name to this amazing creature."
Details of the expedition, during which the extinct fish that have inhabited the world's seas for almost 70 million years, will soon be published in the scientific journal Nature.