In 2004, on Canada's largest island of Ellesmere, scientists discovered a strange fish fossil that had the dual characteristics of both fish and amphibians.
At the time, Darwin's theory of evolution had been proposed for more than 100 years, and although Darwin said that land quadrupeds evolved from fish, it was not accepted by the public because of the lack of key evidence.
After all, we have the impression that fish cannot live without water, and that fish living in the ocean have climbed onto land, evolved into quadrupeds over a long period of time, and become the ancestors of humans.
Scientists will find this strange fish fossil, named Titalik fish, from the perspective of time, it lived about 375 million years ago at the end of the Devonian Period, and it is still a large fish, because in terms of body length, it is 3 meters long, which can be said to be very large.
Incredible Titalik fish
What's so special about the Titalik fish? Studies have found that their fins can support their bodies and help them "walk" on land.
You know, for the fish we know, they have no feet, soft fins, so that they can not support the body on land, once out of the water, they can only lie on the ground on their sides.
The Titalik fish, on the other hand, are very different beings, and what is even more incredible is that they have lungs and a neck that can be moved, which makes them look very similar to amphibians.
Researchers believe that the Titalik fish may be an intermediate link in the evolution of fish toward land tetrapods, of course, before it, fish may have climbed onto land.
So, what kind of fish will be the first to climb onto land? As we all know, in modern scientific research, coelacanths and lungfish, which are also bony fish, are considered to be the fish most likely to climb ashore, evolve into titalik fish, and eventually become land tetrapods.
Of course, whatever the answer, their presence means that land, once lifeless, began to flourish after these fish climbed ashore, and complex land vertebrates began to appear, without which humans would not have appeared.
Of course, from the Silurian period, after the emergence of the earliest primitive fish, until the Devonian period, because of the increasing number of fish species, resulting in fierce competition in the ocean, so that some bony fish began to climb onto land, in this process, the real choice to leave the ocean, is still a small number, the vast majority of fish species, still choose to stay in the ocean to evolve, which also makes the fish competition in the ocean in fact has been very fierce.
Until the end of the Permian, when another mass extinction occurred, marine life was seriously affected, this period, the size of marine fish also began to gradually become smaller, from the Devonian period, the body length of 3 meters titalik fish still has a large number of natural enemies, forcing them to evolve in the direction of land tetrapods, evolved into a carnivorous fish with a body length of only 65 cm, and have the opportunity to become the king of the ocean. So, who will be the king of the oceans in this period?
The oldest fossils of the family Hydrae have been found in Guizhou
In Guizhou, China, researchers have found a very old fish fossil, from the perspective of time, it is about 244 million years old, it is called Yunnan storm fish, from the Permian to the end of the Triassic, has been the leader in the ocean.
When the Permian mass extinction occurred, the diversity of fish in the ocean was also severely damaged, which made scientists wonder which fish was once one of the kings in the Triassic ocean, which lost a large number of top predators.
It was not until the discovery of the oldest and largest fossil of the wartfish in China, which is only 65 cm long, but has very sharp teeth and is also a very fierce carnivorous fish, that scientists can understand the marine ecosystem of the Triassic period and provide strong evidence.
Who are the ancestors of fish?
As we mentioned above, primitive fish appeared in the Silurian period, and also in the Devonian period, and have evolved all the way to the present, so do you know who the ancestors of fish on Earth are?
Here, we need to mention a very special animal, the Wenchang fish, which is considered to be the ancestor of all vertebrates on the planet, and is also a key link in the evolution of low-level invertebrates to higher vertebrates.
Chronologically, there is a view that the Wenchang fish appeared in the Ordovician before the Silurian, which also means that this species, which still lives in the earth's oceans, has in fact had an evolutionary history of more than 400 million years.
It is worth mentioning that although the Wenchang fish has a "fish" in its name, the Wenchang fish is not a fish, but a chordate.
Compared with the first primitive fish on the earth, Wenchang fish have no eyes, no heart and no brain, and although they are called the earliest vertebrate ancestors on the earth, in fact, they do not have a real vertebra, only a chord, which makes them de facto a low-level and high-level species.
As for the origin of the Wenchang fish, because of the age is too long, it is still impossible to know the answer, especially after the end of the Ordovician, the vast geological movement carried out on the Silurian earth has also sealed up many biological evolutionary histories, and it is difficult to find relevant clues and answers.
However, the Wenchang fish has passed tens of millions of years of evolution, so that the earth's oceans have the first complex vertebrates, and give them the opportunity to climb on land, first became amphibians, and then in the Permian, ushered in reptiles, and then after the Permian mass extinction, reptiles vigorously ushered in the spring of evolution, becoming dinosaurs, mammalian ancestors and so on.
Until later, about 2 million years ago, the ancestors of early human beings, and then all the way to the evolution, human beings established civilization, and entered the era of science and technology, which also gave human beings the opportunity to insight into the truth, I have to say, the evolution of life on earth is really very magical, you say?