Haikouichthys

Haikouichthys was one of the first organisms to have a distinct backbone and head, making it a notable transitional form in the transition from invertebrates to fish.[1] It arose during the Cambrian explosion around 530 million years ago, along with AnomalocarisFile:Wikipedia's W.svg and various trilobites.File:Wikipedia's W.svg Though it was likely not a direct ancestor of fishes, it is often referred to as one.[2][3] Its backbone was a notochord, that is, a cartilaginous rod running down its back, and it had gill slits, as with all other primitive chordates.

References
  1. Nature
  2. Oldest fish fossil caught
  3. Donoghue and Purnell, "Genome duplication, extinction and vertebrate evolution"
This evolution-related article is a stub.
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.