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orion |      |       Report Post Fanatic Post Score Adjustment: n/a Rate this post: Insightful Poignant Thought Provoking Comprehensive Funny Neutral Obfuscated Paltry Trite Off Topic Ambiguous Apparently the walking mechanics of the African lungfish have not been studied in detail - until now.  A group of biologists from the University of Chicago show that the lungfish uses its scrawny legs to help propel itself along lake bottoms.   from here "If you showed me the skeleton of this creature and asked me to make a bet on whether it walks or not, I would have bet it couldn't," said co-author Neil Shubin, PhD, Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. "Their fins seem like the furthest thing from walking appendages possible. But it shows what's possible in an aquatic medium where you don't have to support yourself with gravity." The discovery suggests that many of the developments necessary for the transition from water to land could have occurred long before early tetrapods, such as Tiktaalik, took their first steps on shore. Lobe-finned ancestors of the lungfishes as well as tetrapods could have evolved hindlimb propulsion and the ability to walk on the substrate at the bottom of a lake or marsh millions of years before limbs with digits and land-dwelling animals appeared. "This shows us -- pardon the pun -- the steps that are involved in the origin of walking," Shubin said. "What we're seeing in lungfish is a very nice example of how bottom-walking in fish living in water can easily come about in a very tetrapod-like pattern."   Posts: 1435 | Posted: 08:12 AM on December 13, 2011 | IP Fencer27 |      |       Report Post Junkie Post Score Adjustment: n/a Rate this post: Insightful Poignant Thought Provoking Comprehensive Funny Neutral Obfuscated Paltry Trite Off Topic Ambiguous Cool find Orion! I think it shows that the evolution of land tetrapods is easier than previously thought, as some of their characteristics can be beneficial and honed before ever stepping on land. ------- "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." - Jesus (Matthew 7:12)   Posts: 550 | Posted: 12:47 PM on December 14, 2011 | IP Rukbat |     |       Report Post Newbie Post Score Adjustment: n/a Rate this post: Insightful Poignant Thought Provoking Comprehensive Funny Neutral Obfuscated Paltry Trite Off Topic Ambiguous What it means is that the more we discover, the more we see that there were precursors for almost all evolutionary advances - that went off in a different direction than they seemed to go in the first place.  Irreducible complexity seems to be a joke, at best.  Yes, we can have a rudimentary "leg" that can't support the body millions of years before it becomes strong enough to support it.  We already knew that the ear bones existed before they formed a hearing organ. Maybe some day we'll discover the "eye" that came before the seeing organ. If everything was created, the "creator" is the poster boy for inefficiency.   Posts: 5 | Posted: 9:16 PM on December 17, 2011 | IP [ Single page for this topic ] Forum Jump -- GeneralSuggestionsOpen Forum-- DebatesAbortion DebatesCreationism vs Evolution DebatesCurrent EventsEducation DebatesEntertainment DebatesEnvironmental DebatesGovernment DebatesGun Control DebatesHealth DebatesHistory DebatesPolitics DebatesReligon DebatesSociety DebatesScience DebatesTax DebatesCivil Rights DebatesGay Rights DebatesSocial Security DebatesCrime DebatesPeace in the Middle East Fun DebatesGeneralDebate Tournament

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