In the article, Researchers Find Fish that Walk the Way Land Vertebrates Do, Carl Zimmer talks about a recent discovery of tapes of a blind fish in the caves of Thailand. The waterfall-climbing fish, Cryptotora thamicola is able to walk the way land vertebrates do, with many of the same skeletal features including a pelvic bone. Doctor Brooke E. Flammang, an expert on biomechanics states, “I was completely blown away. Instead of flopping or crutching, the cave fish were using what looked like a full-blown tetrapod gait”. The tetrapod evolved from water organisms because their pelvis joined their hind legs to their spine. This way the vertebrate was able to hold stiff against the pull of gravity and the tetrapod was able to stand straight. These adaptations also let the tetrapod move their forelegs and hindlegs together in a cycle. The salamander is the closest organism that most resembles the tetrapod gait. The oldest tetrapod fossils date back 375 million years. There are similar organisms like the frogfish that move in like ways, but they can only do so underwater. Research like this can even lead to evidence that points to fish making the first steps on land instead of the tetrapod, the organism that most scientists believe to be the first organism to walk on land.
This article is very important to research and our understanding about evolution. By finding fish that walk the way land vertebrates do, scientists are able to draw connections between relationships between organisms, homology, and common ancestors. The topic of evolution is ever expanding and a very broad and vast topic due to the fact that there are so many different species of animals, both land dwelling and sea dwelling. However, this discovery could answer more questions on how sea animals evolved to walk and live on land.
The article was very well written and laid the information out in an organized and cohesive manner. There was also a good number of quotes from different scientists and researchers involved in studying the waterfall fish. However, some points in the article could have been more detailed like more characteristics about the makeup of the fish, not just some of the skeletal structure. For instance, what kind of diet was the fish live on or what their interactions with other organisms was like. Overall, the article was very interesting and caught my attention because we just finished the unit on evolution.
Zimmer, Carl. "Researchers Find Fish That Walks the Way Land Vertebrates Do." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/science/researchers-find-fish-that-walks-the-way-land-vertebrates-do.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0>.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the review of the New York Times article, “Researchers Find Fish that Walk the Way Land Vertebrates Do.” The summary of the research was concise and well-written. Carl Zimmer has discovered tapes of blind fish in the caves of Thailand. Cryptotora thamicola, the waterfall-climbing fish, was able to move the way land vertebrates do. It had many of the same skeletal features, including a pelvic bone. Furthermore, the use of quotations strengthened the credibility of the review. Doctor Brooke E. Flammang, an expert on biomechanics states, “I was completely blown away. Instead of flopping or crutching, the cave fish were using what looked like a full-blown tetrapod gait.” All the processes of evolution were clearly defined, making the new research easier to understand. The tetrapod evolved from water organisms as illustrated by attachment of the pelvis to the hind legs and spine. This allowed the vertebrate to be rigid against the pull of gravity, making the tetrapod able to stand up straight. These adaptations allowed the tetrapod to move their forelegs and hindlegs together in a cycle. It would have been interesting to hear past research relating to this topic and the implications of this research on the science community. However, by discovering a species of fish that can walk the same way land vertebrates do, scientists are able to forge connections between organisms homology and common ancestors. Through the theory of evolution, scientists can discover how sea animals evolved to walk and live on land.
ReplyDeleteZimmer, Carl. "Researchers Find Fish That Walks the Way Land Vertebrates Do." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
.
Emily did a great job reviewing this article. She clearly and concisely describes the discovery of tapes of the Cryptotora thamicola cave fish, and connects the findings to our ongoing understanding of evolution today. She also discusses the origin of the cave fish and talks about why the fact that it is blind is important and why and how it evolved, which helps the readers understand the fish and its purpose and function. Emily also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the original article, and talks about the different parts she did and did not like — this is also helpful for those who would like to go back and look into the article further.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would have been helpful to talk more about what the fish looked like and how it is able to walk on land — this would have helped me understand how the fish is able to walk. Also, it would have been better if she had added in more quotes from the article. Quotes would have made the article seem more credible and would give it more merit.
Overall, I think that Emily did a great job with this article. I had no idea that fish were evolving to walk on land, and I’m interested in learning more on the topic.
This article review done by Emily was very well done. I thought that her summary was thorough; she provided many examples of similar skeletal features shared between these fish and land vertebrates, such as the pelvic bone. She also gave specific details on the evolution of how the tetrapod formed from water organisms, by explaining how the pelvis joined the hind legs to the spine. I thought that specific information on the structure and its evolution helped give a better understanding of the similarities between these fish and land vertebrates. I also really liked the quote that Emily used from Doctor Brooke E. Flammang. Aside from adding credibility to the review, the quote also showed what a shocking discovering these fish were, even to scientists; the idea of a fish having a tetrapod gait was a complete surprise. Lastly, I thought that Emily accurately described how this discovery is important to better understanding the evolutionary relationships between animals and lead to an explanation for how sea animals evolved to walk on land.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this review was very well done, I felt that there could have been a better description of the fish. I feel that a physical description of the fish and its motion could have given the reader a better idea of what the fish might look like, and how it would be similar to land vertebrates. I feel like there could have also been a description of what other species have provided evidence that animals from the sea evolved into land animals. I think that other examples of animals that evolved in this way would have made the evolution of these fish more clear, and provided more evidence on how these fish could heighten the evidence about sea animals evolving into land animals.
I chose to read this article, because I was intrigued by the title and wanted to understand how a fish could walk. Overall, I thought that this review provided a good example of evolution, and showed how something as absurd sounding as a fish on land is possible through evolution.
Connor Barrett
ReplyDelete10/11/16
AP Bio
Zimmer, Carl. "Researchers Find Fish That Walks the Way Land Vertebrates Do." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. .
Emily wrote a great review of Carl Zimmer’s article “Researchers Find Fish That Walks the Way Land Vertebrates Do." Emily did a great job describing the importance of the scientists discovering a new species of fish that is able to walk the same way as land vertebrates. She also does a good job of the process scientists took to discover and analyze it, and what it means in the scope of evolution, common ancestors, and homology. One thing I would have like to see Emily do more of is describe the significance behind this discovery even further. It would have also been nice to hear more about Emily’s own opinion of what the discovery means and how it can influence science in the future. I chose Emily’s article because the title caught my I and I learned much about the development of walking mechanisms and how they developed, and even more interestingly, how the new discovery could change the order scientists think it developed.