Prehistoric Fish Species Had Nostrils, Possibly First Air-Breathers on Earth, Scientists Announce

Paleontologists have uncovered a new species of prehistoric fish with nostrils that could have been one of the first creatures to breathe air.

This revelation, Knewz.com has learned, could help illuminate the pivotal point in evolutionary history when Earth’s creatures began to emerge from the ocean and adapt to land.

Paleontologists have uncovered a new species of prehistoric fish with nostrils that could be one of the first creatures to breathe air. By: Flinders University/Brian Choo

Based on several fossilized skulls and skeleton pieces that paint a near-complete picture of the ancient aquatic animal for the first time, an international team of researchers determined it lived during the Middle–Late Devonian period about 380 million years ago, they wrote in a study published in the journal Science Advances earlier this month.

“We found this new form of lobe-finned fish in one of the most remote fossil sites in all of Australia,” John Long, a professor at Flinders University in Adelaide and a co-author of the research, said in a statement.

The prehistoric remains were discovered in 2016 in Australia’s Northern Territory at a site called “Harajica Sandstone Member,” about 120 miles west of Alice Springs.

“This fossil demonstrated that all the isolated bits and pieces collected over the years belonged to a single new type of ancient fish,” Dr. Brian Choo, the lead researcher on the study, said.

A near-complete fossilized skeleton was discovered in 2016 at a remote site in Australia’s Northern Territory. By: Flinders University

The team named the species “Harajicadectes zhumini,” and described it as a roughly 15-inch-long fish with “protective armor.”

It belongs to a group called “tetrapodomorph” fish, which spanned the Devonian period 359 to 419 million years ago and included the ancestors of modern-day amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

What set them apart, though, was the presence of “spiracular structures,” distinct nostril-like openings atop their snouts: a feature unseen in fish from the same epoch, the study said.

The only modern-day fish with similar structures are “bichirs,” a ray-finned species found in the shallow floodplains and estuaries of Africa, according to ScienceAlert.

“These spiracular structures are thought to facilitate surface air-breathing, with modern-day African bichir fish having similar structures for taking in air at the water’s surface,” Choo said.

The researchers described the species a 15-inch long fossil fish with

This air-breathing adaptation could have arisen when atmospheric oxygen dwindled during the mid-Devonian, according to Long.

“The ability to supplement gill respiration with aerial oxygen likely afforded an adaptive advantage,” he said.

The new research builds on 50 years of investigation into the prehistoric species, with the first fossils found in 1973 followed by discoveries in 1991.

The specimen found in 2016 was sent to the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory in Darwin.

The name of the new species means “Min Zhu’s Harajica-biter,” after the location where the fossils were found, its likely predatory habits, and in honor of eminent Chinese palaeontologist Min Zhu, a prolific contributor to early vertebrate research, according to ScienceAlert.