“380-million-year-old heart found in petrified prehistoric ancient fish”
The specimen depicts a pivotal stage in the development of the blood-pumping organ in backboned animals, including humans.
The prehistoric fish heart is extinct.
Western Australia’s “jaw-dropping” finding was reported in Science.
According to
Prof. Kate Trinajstic, from Curtin University in Perth,
“We were clustered around the computer when we realized we had a heart.” She claimed it was thrilling.
Human hints to fish ancestry in Ichthyosaurs.
Fish wonderfully preserved in Kimberley, Western Australia boulders: minerals have preserved much of the fish’s internal organs, including the liver, stomach, intestine, and heart, at the Gogo rock formation near Kimberley.
Prof. Trinajstic: “This is a pivotal period in our growth.”
These fossils depict our early body layout.
Prof John Long from Flinders University in Adelaide called it “mind-boggling”. “We didn’t know anything about animals’ delicate organs before today,” he remarked.
The Gogo fish’s two chambered hearts evolved into ours.
Gogo is the first placoderm. They had jaws and teeth initially. Before placoderms, fishes were no larger than 30cm.
Placoderms dominated the globe for 60 million years, 100 million years before dinosaurs.
Scanners revealed that the Gogo fish’s heart was more intricate than predicted. It has two stacked chambers like the heart.
Researchers say this made the animal’s heart more efficient and turned it into a fast-moving predator.
Inside the rocks, researchers found a crimson liver, stomach, intestines, and heart.
Prof. Long said this was how they became voracious predators.
The heart was considerably more forward than in primitive fish.
This location may have led to the formation of the Gogo fish’s neck and lungs.
Gogo fossil with huge eye sockets
Dr. Zerina Johanson of the Natural History Museum in London, a global pioneer in placoderms who is independent of Prof. Trinajstic’s team, called the study a “very significant finding” that helps explain how the human body evolved.
“We still have jaws and teeth, for example. Front and rear fins, which became our arms and legs, initially developed”.
There are numerous things in placoderms that we observe developing in humans, such as the neck, heart form and location, and heart position.
Dr. Martin Brazeau, an independent placoderm specialist at Imperial College London, said the finding is a crucial stage in Earth’s development.
“I’m thrilled,” he said.
“The fish we study are part of our evolution.” This is part of the evolution of humans, terrestrial animals, and marine fish.
