Researchers Unearth 420-Million-Year-Old ‘Living Fossil’ Fish Species, Helped Them to Connect Human Evolution

Analysis of 420-million-year-old Coelacanths fossils in Western Australia has provided some unique insights about the species as well as its connection with humans. As per researchers, these remains came from the Devonian Period and were spotted in the Gogo formations in Gooniyandi Country, SciTech Daily stated. The finding was valuable for experts as it covered a period when these creatures transformed from primitive to anatomically modern. For their examination, researchers worked with native communities that had more intimate knowledge about the creatures. “We are thrilled to work with people of the Mimbi community to grace this beautiful new fish with the first name taken from the Gooniyandi language,” said first author Dr. Alice Clement, an evolutionary biologist and paleontologist from Flinders University. Findings regarding the remains have been published in Nature.

Analysis of fossils helped researchers connect anatomical human evolution with ancient fishes. Researchers knew that many parts of human anatomy like jaws, paired appendages, ossified brain cases, teeth, intromittent genital organs, paired lungs, and chambered hearts developed in the Early Palaeozoic (540-350 million years ago) period. The fossils showed to the team that many of these features were also present in early fishes. Hence there could be associations in regards to anatomical evolution between humans and Coelacanths. This further proves that there have been many changes in these fishes across several millenniums. “While most early forms remain poorly known, our study allows us to start understanding how living coelacanth species of Latimeria might not deserve the enigmatic title of ‘living fossils,'” Richard Cloutier, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Quebec in Rimouski and a study co-author explained, as per Earth. Living fossils is the term given to the remains of species that have not changed across periods. 

Examination of the fossil unveiled the relationship between species evolution and tectonic activities, Sci Tech Daily stated. According to experts, tectonic activities caused plates to shift, creating new habitats and facilitating the creation of new species. “Our analyses found that tectonic plate activity had a profound influence on rates of coelacanth evolution. Namely, new species of coelacanth were more likely to evolve during periods of heightened tectonic activity as new habitats were divided and created,” Clement explained.

Coelacanths have been a resilient bunch that has always intrigued experts.  It has been noted by experts that in the Mesozoic era, the age of dinosaurs, the species diversified. They developed unique body shapes, but by the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 66 million years ago they fell off the fossil record.  Researchers believe it was because of the impact from a massive asteroid, that facilitated a massive extinction event. This phenomenon was so huge that 75% of all earth life vanished, but somehow Coelacanths managed to persevere and reappeared in 1938. Though researchers don't have many early forms of this species in custody, this new finding enables them to remove some wrong assertions that have been accepted about their evolution. “For more than 35 years, we have found several perfectly preserved 3D fish fossils from Gogo sites which have yielded many significant discoveries, including mineralized soft tissues and the origins of complex sexual reproduction in vertebrates,” said Flinders University Strategic Professor of Palaeontology John Long. “Our study of this new species led us to analyze the evolutionary history of all known coelacanths.”