It is the oldest fossilized heart ever discovered. Related search in reconsidering Scienceon September 15. The organ belongs to a joint, a primitive fish that is one of the oldest jawed vertebrates on our planet.
These putative ancestors of sharks lived in tropical reefs about 380 million years ago. Thus, the fossil found is 250 million years older than all fish hearts known up to then.
3D notes
“The site is undoubtedly one of the most important fossil sites in the world for understanding the early evolution of vertebrate animals,” for Australian Geographic magazinePaleontologist Kate Triangstick of Curtin University.
“We found a heart that is 380 million years old in a Kimberley fish,” Kate Trinigstick wrote on Twitter.
What makes this discovery even more extraordinary is that soft tissues generally do not stand the test of time. The stomach, liver, intestines, or hearts often collapse before ossification occurs.
However, tissue mineralization was done here. Thanks to current and 3D technologies, scientists can monitor the details of an organ, even without having to break the fossil.
distant ancestor
The information collected in this way provided important data on the evolution of the species. And although this fish is a very distant ancestor of man, its heart is not much different from ours. Arthropods are one of our “earliest jawed ancestors,” says Kate Triangstick.
This discovery gives new accuracy to the evolution of the body of vertebrates in general. Including the evolution of the human body.
