recently
Mainland researchers through a piece of research
fossils sealed in the herbarium,
Discovered 390 million years ago
The armor fish of the Middle Devonians, the Oriental Fish.
The fish is known to date
Armor fish with the largest number of gill sacs,
The number of gill sacs can reach up to 45 pairs,
It was the Silurian period
More than 7 times the most primitive armor fish.
Relevant research results
Published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Ecological restoration map of oriental fish. Photo courtesy of the Institute of Paleovertebrates, Chinese Academy of Sciences, by Yang Dinghua
"This study is the first to report on the fossils of middle Devonian armor fish in Yunnan Province, and the second time that the mainland has reported the fossils of Middle Devonian armor fish, extending the survival era of the oriental fish genus from the Early Devonian Prague period 410 million years ago to the Middle Devonian Eiffel period 390 million years ago, and extending back for about 20 million years." Corresponding author of the paper, Gai Zhikun, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.
As we all know, gills are the most important respiratory organ of fish and an important place for oxygen exchange. However, in armored fish, the number of gill sacs varies greatly among different taxa and is one of the important bases for taxonomy.
Photos and restorations of oriental fish fossils (photographed by Gai Zhikun and painted by Guo Xiaocong)
Early armored fish had a small number of gill sacs, with only 6–7 pairs of gill sacs, which may represent the ancestral state of armored fish. During the Silurian-Devonian period, the number of gill sacs of armored fish has been increasing, and by the time of oriental fish there were already 45 pairs of gill sacs. "The multiplication of the gill sacs of armored fish has been an evolutionary phenomenon that is difficult to explain." Gai Zhikun said.
The new finding suggests that oriental fish have the largest number of gill sacs ever recorded, which may be an evolutionary response of armor fish to recurrent marine hypoxia events in the early Devonians and the secret to the survival of oriental fish into the Middle Devonians.
This time the discovery
It also allows the "Dumb Fish Family" to have new members
These stupid fish in the ancient fish kingdom,
You know a few of them
Source: Science and Technology Daily
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