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Article: Scientists find fossil of fish with 'fingers,' which may be one of our distant ancestors.(Originated from Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- January 7, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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From a pile of boulders thrown near the side of a road in north-central Pennsylvania, two Philadelphia scientists have found a bizarre fossil they believe belonged to a fish with eight ``fingers'' inside its fins, able to propel itself through the mud of an ancient swamp.
The idea a fish could carry the bone structure of fingers inside its fins overturns prevailing thought in vertebrate evolution, which long held fingers didn't appear until after creatures made the transition to land, about 360 million years ago.
``This absolutely shows the common presence of external scales and internal fingers,'' said paleontologist Robert Carroll of McGill ...