Human Middle Ear , Evolved From Fish Gills, Study Suggests.
According to a new study of a 438-million-year-old
fossilized fish brain, the middle ear
of humans evolved from fish.
'Newsweek' reports that scientists managed to recreate seven virtual casts of the fossilized braincase of an ancient Shuyu fish.
The team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) studied the spiracle, slits behind the eyes which allow some species to breathe.
The spiracle is responsible for the intake
of water before it is expelled from
the gills of sharks and rays.
The spiracle is responsible for the intake
of water before it is expelled from
the gills of sharks and rays.
These fossils provided the first anatomical
and fossil evidence for a vertebrate
spiracle originating from fish gills, Professor Zhikun Gai, first author of the study
from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, via 'Newsweek'.
According to the team, the spiracle
evolved into the ear of modern
four legged vertebrates.
According to the team, the spiracle
evolved into the ear of modern
four legged vertebrates.
Over time, the spiracle developed into
the hearing canal which transmits sound
to the brain through tiny inner ear bones.
Our finding bridges the entire history of
the spiracular slit, bringing together recent
discoveries from the gill pouches of fossil
jawless vertebrates, via the spiracles of
the earliest jawed vertebrates, to the middle
ears of the first tetrapods, which tells
this extraordinary evolutionary story, Professor Per Ahlberg, Uppsala University and collaborator on the research, via 'Newsweek'.
Our finding bridges the entire history of
the spiracular slit, bringing together recent
discoveries from the gill pouches of fossil
jawless vertebrates, via the spiracles of
the earliest jawed vertebrates, to the middle
ears of the first tetrapods, which tells
this extraordinary evolutionary story, Professor Per Ahlberg, Uppsala University and collaborator on the research, via 'Newsweek'.
The team's research was published in the
journal 'Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.'