🌅 Correcting 70 Years of Evolution Science

SOURCE

Datovo & Johnson (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• A recent study by researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the Smithsonian Institution found coelacanths—the limbed fish famed for its place on the evolutionary timeline—lack 11 jaw muscles scientists previously thought it possessed. The authors say the findings shed new light on the evolution of jawed vertebrates by reshaping skull evolution and correcting 70 years of anatomical errors.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Coelacanths are sometimes called “living fossils” because actual fossils reveal their bodies haven’t changed much over the past 420 million years. The fish are one of the few living species to have fleshy, limb-like lobes similar to those found on ancient fish that eventually gave rise to the legs of early tetrapods.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The term “living fossil” was coined by famed naturalist Charles Darwin in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. The term describes organisms that appear unchanged from their extinct relatives found in actual fossils. Other examples are horseshoe crabs (which aren’t actually crabs), mantis shrimp, and goblin sharks.