The World's Oldest "Living Fossil" Is Shaking Up Conventional Evolutionary Theories

Scitech Daily ^ | September 12, 2024 | Flinders University

[SunkenCiv]

A newly discovered ancient coelacanth from Western Australia provides critical insights into evolutionary biology, highlighting the influence of tectonic activities on the emergence of new species and tracing the lineage that connects ancient fishes to humans.

Credit: Katrina Kenny (Flinders University)

[SunkenCiv]

...around 66 million years ago, they mysteriously disappeared from the fossil record. The end-Cretaceous extinction, sparked by the impact from a massive asteroid, wiped out approximately 75% of all life on Earth, including all of the non-avian (bird-like) dinosaurs. Thus, it was presumed that the coelacanth fishes had been swept up as a casualty of the same mass extinction event. But in 1938...

...a mass extinction event wasn't even considered, and wouldn't be until after the Chicxulub impact crater was discovered (1951, 1978) and identified (1991) as the source of the iridium layer in the thin layer that caps the Cretaceous.

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[brownsfan]

Oh, I thought this was about Joe Biden.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the link! Makes a nice twofer!

[Magnum44]

Oldest living fossil?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

“Joe Biden”?

[dfwgator]

If only Helen Thomas were still alive.

[Magnum44]

I was going to go there, but you would be correct as she’s not living. Maybe her ghost?

[Magnum44]

And pictures of Helen still give me the heebie jeebies.

[wildcard_redneck]

Helen Thomas was truly ugly.

[dfwgator]

Inside and Out.

[Candor7]

Ping to Oz fish.....

[Rurudyne]

I recall suggesting an alternate method of interrogation of making them watch Thomas and Henry Waxman recreate the beach scene from From Here To Eternity.

[pierrem15]

They ignore the most important question: Are they tasty?

[Nifster]

Nooooooooo….

Can’t unsee

[chrisser]

This isn’t an Elizabeth Warren thread?

[Getready]

I have read that they are greasy...don’t taste too good.

[Getready]

Invoking an oxymoron (living fossil) to obscure the now known truth that not ALL organizms evolve.

[USAF1985]

Hillary just can’t let it go and stay out of the news.../s

[Seruzawa]

Unfortunately the meteor theory is just that. A theory. The dinosaurs took many years to die out. Plus the theory doesn’t explain why the smaller reptile sized dinosaurs didn’t survive like the mammals and reptiles did.