Human Middle Ear , Evolved From Fish Gills, Study Suggests.<br />According to a new study of a 438-million-year-old <br />fossilized fish brain, the middle ear <br />of humans evolved from fish.<br />'Newsweek' reports that scientists managed to recreate seven virtual casts of the fossilized braincase of an ancient Shuyu fish.<br />The team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) studied the spiracle, slits behind the eyes which allow some species to breathe.<br />The spiracle is responsible for the intake <br />of water before it is expelled from <br />the gills of sharks and rays.<br />The spiracle is responsible for the intake <br />of water before it is expelled from <br />the gills of sharks and rays.<br />These fossils provided the first anatomical <br />and fossil evidence for a vertebrate <br />spiracle originating from fish gills, Professor Zhikun Gai, first author of the study <br />from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, via 'Newsweek'.<br />According to the team, the spiracle <br />evolved into the ear of modern <br />four legged vertebrates.<br />According to the team, the spiracle <br />evolved into the ear of modern <br />four legged vertebrates.<br />Over time, the spiracle developed into <br />the hearing canal which transmits sound <br />to the brain through tiny inner ear bones.<br />Our finding bridges the entire history of <br />the spiracular slit, bringing together recent <br />discoveries from the gill pouches of fossil <br />jawless vertebrates, via the spiracles of <br />the earliest jawed vertebrates, to the middle <br />ears of the first tetrapods, which tells <br />this extraordinary evolutionary story, Professor Per Ahlberg, Uppsala University and collaborator on the research, via 'Newsweek'.<br />Our finding bridges the entire history of <br />the spiracular slit, bringing together recent <br />discoveries from the gill pouches of fossil <br />jawless vertebrates, via the spiracles of <br />the earliest jawed vertebrates, to the middle <br />ears of the first tetrapods, which tells <br />this extraordinary evolutionary story, Professor Per Ahlberg, Uppsala University and collaborator on the research, via 'Newsweek'.<br />The team's research was published in the <br />journal 'Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.'
