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The superbly preserved specimen was recovered from the Gogo rock formation in the Kimberly region of Western Australia, which was a giant reef 380 million years ago. The position of their organs is similar to that observed in modern sharks, providing new clues about the evolution of this anatomy, explained the paper’s writer and vertebrate paleontologist, Professor Kate Trinajstic of Curtin University in Australia. She added: “As a paleontologist who has studied fossils for more than 20 years, I was surprised to locate a three-dimensional and magnificently preserved structure. “center on a 380-million-year-old ancestor. “
Professor Trinajstic continued: “Evolution is noticeable as a series of small steps, however, those ancient fossils suggest that there was a greater jump among jawless and jawed vertebrates.
“These fish literally have their hearts in their mouths and gills, just like today’s sharks. “
In their study, the team was able to provide a three-dimensional style of the arthrodire’s complex S-shaped nucleus, which includes two chambers, the smaller of which is above the larger.
These features, they explained, were complex in those early vertebrates and offer a window into how the dominance of the head and neck evolved to adapt to the jaws, a key step in the evolution of our own bodies.
Professor Trinajstic added: “For the first time, we can see all the organs in combination in a primitive jawed fish, and we were surprised to learn that they were so different from us.
“However, there is a critical difference: the liver giant allowed the fish to remain floating, just like today’s sharks.
“Some of today’s bony fishes, such as dipneusts and birches, have lungs that evolved from swim bladders, yet we discovered no evidence of lungs in any of the extinct armored fish we examined. “
This, Explained Professor Trinajstic, “suggests that they independently in bony fish at a later date. “
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In the study, the researchers partnered with experts from the Australian Organization for Nuclear Science and Technology and the synchrotron radiation facility in France.
Beams of neutrons and synchrotron-generated X-rays were used to scan the fossil, which is still embedded in a piece of limestone, and reconstruct its innards.
The team said the discovery of those mineralized organs, along with previous discoveries of embryos and muscles, makes arthrodies the most productive known of all early-jawed vertebrates.
In addition, they added, it clarifies an evolutionary transition in the lineage of living mandibular vertebrates, which are mammals and humans.
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Co-author of the paper, Professor John Long of Australian Flinders University, said: “These new discoveries of comfortable organs in those ancient fish make paleontologists dream. “
“Without a doubt, those fossils are the ones preserved in the world for this moment. They show the value of gogo fossils in perceiving the early stages of our remote evolution.
“Gogo has given us world premieres, from the origins of sex to the oldest vertebrate heart, and is one of the most important fossil sites in the world.
“It’s time for the site to be seriously considered a World Heritage Site. “
Co-author of the paper and paleontologist, Professor Per Ahlberg from Swedish University of Uppsala, said: “What is really exceptional about the Gogo fish is that its comfortable tissues are preserved in 3 dimensions.
“Most cases of soft tissue preservation are discovered in flattened fossils, where the anatomy of the soft tissue is little more than a spot on the rock.
“We are also very fortunate because fashionable scanning techniques allow us those fragile and comfortable fabrics without destroying them.
“A few decades ago, it would have been impossible. “
The full effects of the were published in the journal Science.