Researchers hope the discovery will help shed light on the evolution of the human body.
Curtin University researchers found a heart next to a separate fossilized stomach, intestine and liver of a 380-million-year-old fish. The Daily Mail writes about it.
The world’s oldest heart has been found in a perfectly preserved fossil in the Gogo Formation of Western Australia. The organ consists of two chambers, the smaller one at the top.
It is said that this discovery will help shed light on the evolution of the human body.
“Evolution is often presented as a series of small steps, but these ancient fossils suggest there was a much bigger leap between jawless and jawed vertebrates. These fish literally have a heart in their mouth and under their gills – just like modern sharks,” said. Professor Kate Trinajstick, who led the research.
The soft tissues of ancient species are rarely preserved, so the team was amazed to find that the fossilized organs remained intact.
“What’s really extraordinary about gogo fish is that their soft tissues are preserved in three dimensions,” said co-author Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University.
The researchers used neutron beams and synchrotron X-rays to scan the samples still embedded in the limestone. This allows them to form three-dimensional images of the soft tissues within them. The 3D images showed that the fish had a complex S-shaped heart consisting of two chambers, with the smaller of the two at the top.
Recall that early archaeologists in Georgia discovered a 1.8 million-year-old tooth belonging to an ancient human species.
In Mexico, archaeologists found the skeleton of a prehistoric man
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Source: korrespondent
