However, the gill arches during the embryonic stage create similar structure in use, not appearance. The first gill arch creates “the trigeminal nerve in both humans and sharks” (Shubin 91). The cells of the second gill arch gives us cartilage and muscle that helps the creation of the stapes, as well as another bone, the hyoid, that assists in swallowing. In a shark, the same arch “helps with jaw production” that compares to hyoid (Shubin 92). In the third and fourth gill arch, for humans it produces structures necessary for speech and swallow and for sharks it includes parts of tissues that support the gills. Sharks and humans have gill arches in the embryonic stage, but unlike the statement proposes, they do develop into related structures in each…
We are all sharks underneath the skin, to put it more precisely we are all modified sharks, said fossil expert Neil Shubin. As Shubin makes it clear, evolution does not proceed in mighty anatomical jumps but to the process of gradual changes, transforming a gene, cell, or bone for a new purpose. In this way new species are eventually created. Albeit, a new species that still carries traces of it's evolutionary predecessors, an inner connection between fish and humans. You can see these biological stigmata today, says Shubin. Our hands resemble fossil fins, our heads are organized like those of long extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes still function like those of worms and bacteria. Hypothetically we are all "shark siblings".…
From my Blast results the most similar gene sequence to the gene of interest was taeniopugia guttata that had a max score of 2313 and an Ident % of 100. As well as it had an e-value of 0, which means that it’s closely related to the gene of interest. This species is located on the birds’ branch on the cladogram because it has features of a bird. From my data collected of Gene sequence the second most related gene sequence was from meleagris gallopavo . It had amax score of 1781 and an 92% Ident and an e-value of 0.…
Prezygotic barriers impede mating between species or hinder the fertilization of ova if members of different species attempt to mate.…
Comparative Anatomy: these studies provide strong support for evolution, these help to sort out evolutionary relationships. Homologous structures have a common evolutionary origin but have a different function (hand bones in a human, bat, and dolphins) Analogous structures have a similar function but have different evolutionary origins (bird wings vs. bumblebee…
Your Inner Fish: A Review of Chapter 4 In Your Inner Fish, a book about the study of evolution in mammals, chapter four is dedicated to the study of teeth. Neil Shubin is explicit in his insistence that teeth are extremely important when studying evolution of the human body. He uses three main points to explain this to the reader. First, through the function of teeth. Then by revealing the anatomy of teeth. And finally by discussing tooth-to-tooth occlusion. Teeth are used to manipulate larger objects so that they may fit into a smaller mouth. Shubin writes ”Mouths are only so big, and teeth enable creatures to eat things that are bigger than their mouths” (Shubin 60). Without teeth creatures would have a smaller variety of options when it came to food choices. Bigger fish could only eat smaller fish and so on. As explained by Shubin “… teeth can be the great equalizer: smaller fish can munch on bigger fish if they have good teeth” (Shubin 60). So we derive from this that teeth can play an important role in the food chain and thus in evolution. However, teeth play a more important part than this. By studying the anatomy of teeth many secrets can be revealed about ancient reptiles and mammals. For instance, Shubin relates that “The bumps, pits and ridges on teeth often reflect the diet” (Shubin 60). By knowing the diet of an ancient creature, it is reasonable to see how a paleontologist and evolutionist can follow the emergence of the omnivore over the carnivore and herbivore. And the hardness of teeth make it the “best-preserved animal we find in the fossil record for many time periods” (Shubin 61). This clue to these ancient animal’s diets can “give us a good window on how different ways of feeding came about” (Shubin 61). So, the shape of the teeth and the general mineral make-up both contribute to the usefulness of teeth to the scientist.…
Have you ever asked yourself, exactly what is DNA and why is it so important? DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid and is found in every living thing. We inherit DNA from our parents, half from our mothers and half from our fathers. DNA is made up of sugars, bases, and phosphates and comes in the structure of a double helix which looks like a spiral staircase (Craig Freudenrich, 2007). DNA is found in the genes which are housed in chromosomes. Humans have 46 chromosomes; however, the amount of chromosomes varies from specie to specie. Except in the case of identical twins, DNA is unique…
Happen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174…
“DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the fundamental building block for an individual 's entire genetic makeup. It is a component of virtually every cell in the human body. Further, a person 's DNA is the same in every cell.…
Hypothesis: Prey that is camouflaged in its habitat are harder to spot, and get to live long enough to pass on their genes which means the colors of the population that don’t fit in with the environment will eventually die out. Therefore, white will survive, and red will die out.…
In a Tiktaalik, the head is completely free of the shoulders. This feature is shared with mammals, including humans. In this way, the Tiktaalik fossil confirms the major paleontological prediction that almost all the body parts (ribs, ears, and wrists) are similar to ours and therefore that we can be traced back to this fish.…
The fossil record does not just tell us that lots of plants and animals died in the past. It tells us how organisms used to look like, and we can compare them over the years to track differences. We are able to tell how they have evolved and which parts have changed in relation to things such as bones and structure. For example whether or not the animal had wings, or if it was a land or sea creature, and whether or not it is still that way today.…
Species variation has three parts to it, one being species change over time. Charles Darwin discovered this idea while on his voyage. While looking at fossils and old skeletons from past animals Darwin noticed similarities between bone structure now and the bone structure from the fossil. Some of his findings include that many animals today did come from a common ancestor. Darwin found that the bone structure in both the human arm, and the fin of a whale are the same or very similar, so he concluded that they came from a common ancestor. We also have found fossils of animals very similar to the ones we…
When understanding fossils, what is the first thing you think of? For me it is Dinosaurs. I don’t tend to think of any other animal fossils. Understanding fossils date back to 1666. Niels Steno a Danish anatomist was asked to dissect a giant shark that was off the coast in Italy. When dissecting, Niels was stunned with the resemblance of a shark’s tooth and tongue stones. Tongue stones are triangular pieces of rock. Niels was motivated to learn more and see if he could prove the tongue stones were shark teeth. Niels declared that the tooth was, in fact, the tongue stone but still needed to find a way to prove how the shark tooth turned to stone and got lodged in rock. The question that was asked was “how could fossils end up deep inside rocks?”…
The new frontier for fossil discoveries is China. Here Scientist are able to take evidence for evolutionary theories. The fossil record contains many well-documented examples of the transition from one species into another, as well as the origin of new physical features. Evidence from the fossil record is unique, because it provides a time perspective for understanding the evolution of life on Earth. David Attenborough embarks on an epic 500-million-year journey to unravel the incredible rise of the vertebrates. The evolution of animals with backbones is one of the greatest stories in natural history. To tell this story, David presents explosive new fossil evidence from China, a region he has long dreamt of exploring and the frontier of modern paleontological research. In the Time period known as the Cambrian, in which the land was still bare and lifeless but under water it was exploding into a multitude of forms. The first known vertebrate fossils, found at the Chengjiang locality in China, date back to the early Cambrian. Vertebrates appear to have radiated in the late Ordovician, about 450 million years ago. The major animal groups we know today were appearing on the planet for the very first time. They build their bodies of soft tissues and some even have a hard outhercase to protect their selves, but none had anything that resembled a backbone, and so they were called the invertebrands. But there is an exception, the Myllokunmingia, the first known common ancestor of all vertebrates. Using its early back-bone to move around in a totally new way, this animal diversified over millions of years to create the spectacular variety of backboned creatures we see on our planet today. A species was found as well in China that had a newly identified ‘missing link’; older fish have front fins but this one has another pair of back fins, or pelvic fins, granting much more swimming stability to the owner. Along with the jaw,…