Mammals Share Mechanisms Controlling the Heart with A 400 Million-year-old Fish
Published:08 Mar.2018 Source:Science Daily
Primitive air-breathing fish, whose direct ancestors first appeared around 400 million years ago, show mechanisms controlling the heart which were previously considered to be found only in mammals -- according to a new study.
Scientists in Britain and Brazil studied the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa, and discovered that systems enabling this primitive vertebrate to control blood flow during bouts of air-breathing have close similarities to those identified in mammals.