A 3-D model of a fishapod, the Tiktaalik MALCOLM MACIVER, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
During the Devonian period, around 385 million years ago, our aquatic ancestors evolved to live on land. While most scientists suspect this transition was spurred by the evolution of fins to limbs, it may have been changes in the eyes that brought the early fish out of the water, according to a study published Tuesday (March 7) in PNAS.
Malcolm MacIver, a neuroscientist and engineer at Northwestern University, and colleagues made this discovery while investigating the fossilized skulls of 59 fish, tetrapod, and fishapod (intermediates between fish and tetrapod) species from the Devonian period. By measuring eye socket size, they discovered that these ancient creatures’ eyes may have nearly tripled in size before the transition from water to land occurred. Bigger eyes would had made ...
