National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Ancient Fish Had Primitive Fingers, Toes


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A closer look at fossils of Panderichthys, an ancient fish related to land animals (above left, in an artist's rendering) revealed what appear to be primitive digits concealed in its fins (a 3-D reconstruction, right).

The discovery, announced in September 2008, "dismisses" a longheld theory that animal hands and feet appeared out of nowhere in the course of evolution, experts say.

Illustration by Luis Rey © Dorling Kindersley, image courtesy C. Boisvert and P. Ahlberg