Fossil brain undoes 350 million years of scientific understanding
(2023/02/02)
- Reference: 1675359135
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/02/02/ancient_fish_fossil_brain/
- Source link:
A fish fossil first described in northwest England more than 100 years ago is shedding light on the evolution of the brain with the help of X-ray scanning and 3D reconstruction.
Many vertebrates' forebrains are formed from the neural tube in the embryo by two cerebral hemispheres that enclose a hollow space called a ventricle; it is called an evaginated forebrain. In ray-finned fishes, which make up about half of living vertebrates, the forebrain is everted, which means it consists of solid cerebral hemispheres that are separated by a narrow ventricle.
It was assumed ray-finned fishes, such as tuna and monkfish, have possessed this feature of brain anatomy and development since they first evolved about 350 million years ago.
[1]
However, [2]a Nature paper by Matt Friedman, associate professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, shows there is much more to it.
[3]
[4]
His team of researchers succeeded in examining a 319-million-year-old fossil specimen of the extinct ray-finned fish Coccocephalichthys wildi using X-ray scanning. Although fossils usually only reveal evidence of hard tissue such as bones, the resulting 3D images showed the ancient creature's brain in "stunning" detail.
[5]AI analysis of dinosaur tracks suggests 'predator' may have been a herbivore
[6]Supernovae may explain mass extinctions of marine animals 2.6 million years ago
[7]Depressed? Desperate for a ciggie? Blame the Neanderthals
[8]Did climate change scare off vegan dinos for millions of years? 'Yes'
"When studying its internal anatomy with X-ray scanning and 3D reconstruction techniques, [the researchers] found not only that the main regions of the brain and cranial nerves were fossilized in stunning detail, but also that the forebrain is evaginated – a feature previously unknown in ray-finned fishes. Fossilized soft tissues in such ancient vertebrates are unusual, and this fossil is the oldest known fossilized vertebrate brain," wrote Bristol University's Hugo Dutelis and Matteo Fabbri of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in an accompanying paper.
The pair said the finding and the position of Coccocephalichthys in the vertebrate family tree had "crucial implications for our understanding of brain evolution." Also, it casts doubt over using such brain features as a means of classifying ancient ray-finned fishes.
"This example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain provides a window into neural anatomy deep within ray-finned fish phylogeny [evolutionary relationships]," the paper said.
[9]
"Coccocephalus indicates a more complicated pattern of brain evolution than suggested by living species alone… Our findings, along with a growing set of studies in other animal groups, point to the importance of ancient soft tissue preservation in understanding the deep evolutionary assembly of major anatomical systems outside of the narrow subset of skeletal tissues." ®
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[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05666-1
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/16/ancient_dinosaur_tracks_analysed_using/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/12/supernovae_mass_extinctionevent/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/12/effects_of_neandertal_genes/
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[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Many vertebrates' forebrains are formed from the neural tube in the embryo by two cerebral hemispheres that enclose a hollow space called a ventricle; it is called an evaginated forebrain. In ray-finned fishes, which make up about half of living vertebrates, the forebrain is everted, which means it consists of solid cerebral hemispheres that are separated by a narrow ventricle.
It was assumed ray-finned fishes, such as tuna and monkfish, have possessed this feature of brain anatomy and development since they first evolved about 350 million years ago.
[1]
However, [2]a Nature paper by Matt Friedman, associate professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, shows there is much more to it.
[3]
[4]
His team of researchers succeeded in examining a 319-million-year-old fossil specimen of the extinct ray-finned fish Coccocephalichthys wildi using X-ray scanning. Although fossils usually only reveal evidence of hard tissue such as bones, the resulting 3D images showed the ancient creature's brain in "stunning" detail.
[5]AI analysis of dinosaur tracks suggests 'predator' may have been a herbivore
[6]Supernovae may explain mass extinctions of marine animals 2.6 million years ago
[7]Depressed? Desperate for a ciggie? Blame the Neanderthals
[8]Did climate change scare off vegan dinos for millions of years? 'Yes'
"When studying its internal anatomy with X-ray scanning and 3D reconstruction techniques, [the researchers] found not only that the main regions of the brain and cranial nerves were fossilized in stunning detail, but also that the forebrain is evaginated – a feature previously unknown in ray-finned fishes. Fossilized soft tissues in such ancient vertebrates are unusual, and this fossil is the oldest known fossilized vertebrate brain," wrote Bristol University's Hugo Dutelis and Matteo Fabbri of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in an accompanying paper.
The pair said the finding and the position of Coccocephalichthys in the vertebrate family tree had "crucial implications for our understanding of brain evolution." Also, it casts doubt over using such brain features as a means of classifying ancient ray-finned fishes.
"This example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain provides a window into neural anatomy deep within ray-finned fish phylogeny [evolutionary relationships]," the paper said.
[9]
"Coccocephalus indicates a more complicated pattern of brain evolution than suggested by living species alone… Our findings, along with a growing set of studies in other animal groups, point to the importance of ancient soft tissue preservation in understanding the deep evolutionary assembly of major anatomical systems outside of the narrow subset of skeletal tissues." ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
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[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05666-1
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/16/ancient_dinosaur_tracks_analysed_using/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/12/supernovae_mass_extinctionevent/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/12/effects_of_neandertal_genes/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2015/06/16/dinosaurs_dodged_tropics_climate_change_new_study/
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[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Anonymous Coward
Boffinry of the first water!
evaginated forebrain
Tom 7
naaaaa. Just fell over pissed orrificor
"this fossil is the oldest known fossilized vertebrate brain"
Gene Cash
They need to meet my management chain (ba dum TISSSH)
This is a good story - Thank You!
However it's worth remembering (this is just a thought, not a criticism) that evolution is basically a result of sexual extensions; An entity evolves and it more popular after "parties" in the evening which "results" in more entities being born and the population increasing ... potentially evolving more over thousands of years to reproduce and "evolve" some more. So all evolution has to be something that extends the populations - essentially this is suggesting that smarter fish evolved more and more, eventually resulting on a fish evolving to breath air and then flop around on the river banks, finding mushrooms to eat and developing their fins into legs and arms and becoming animals that climbed trees.