Where Fish Became Amphibians (?) -- A New Hypothesis

Scientist says fish grew legs in woodlands, not deserts. 


Summary: The leading hypothesis for how fish “evolved” into amphibians is being questioned by a U. of Oregon scientist. The prevailing picture for fish-to-amphibian evolution portrays small fish some “360 million years ago” crawling on stumpy limbs out of shrinking desert ponds in response to changing environmental conditions. Paleontologist Alfred Romer, who died in 1973, had popularized the idea. However, Gregory J. Retallack, Oregon professor of geological sciences, disagrees with that scenario.


Retallack doesn’t believe such a hypothetical ancestor of ours could have survived the overwhelming odds of perishing in traveling from one shrinking pond to another. Writing in the May, 2011 Journal of Geology, Retallack, who is also a co-director of paleontological collections at an U. of Oregon museum, said he examined numerous buried soils in rocks yielding footprints and bones of “early transitional fossils” between fish and amphibians, and what he found raises a major challenge to Romer’s theory.


"These transitional fossils were not associated with drying ponds or deserts, but consistently were found with humid woodland soils," he said. "Remains of drying ponds and desert soils also are known and are littered with fossil fish, but none of our distant ancestors. Judging from where their fossils were found, transitional forms between fish and amphibians lived in wooded floodplains.” 


Limbs would have proven handy in getting around woody obstacles, and flexible necks would have allowed for obtaining food in shallow water. Limbs and necks, which distinguish salamanders from fish, would not have arisen from desert experiences. Retallack’s discoveries not only cast doubt on Romer’s hypothesis but also a newer inter-tidal theory which came into being when tetrapods were found in lagoonal mud in Poland.


To read the entire article, click on SCIENCE DAILY.


Comment: Transitional fossils? Here we go again. I did a web search of “transitional fossils” to see if I could find any clear photographs of these hypothetical creatures. You can do the same. What I found were mostly drawings and paintings - in other words, artist conceptions. (Don’t be confused by the illustration above of a fish-amphibian which is my own artist conception.) There were a few photos of fossils of ancient creatures such as archaeopteryx, which once was considered a link between reptiles and birds. I believe most paleontologists now think this creature was a true bird because true bird fossils have been dated as older than this fossil. 


For transitional fossils to be proven to really be transitional fossils and not just the remains of some ancient, now-extinct animal, a series of fossils showing a gradual change of one animal into another would be extremely helpful. Unfortunately for evolutionists, such series of fossils are extremely difficult to find now that the famed horse evolution series has been discounted by DNA testing.


An alleged transitional fossil that is quite relevant to this story is something called Tiktaalik, supposedly a walking fish. But, rocks have been found containing walking animals which have been dated as older than Tiktaalik, meaning that secularists can’t consider it to be a transition between fish and tetrapods. Moreover, there are fish such as mudskippers alive today which can move around on their fins, in the water or sometimes even over land, and then there is a salamander called an axoloti which looks like a walking fish. But they can’t be transitional animals either because there is no evidence they were anything else than what they are today.


I would suggest that the biggest transition that ever happened to life on this planet was when sin entered the world. All creatures started experiencing imperfections (Romans 8:22). Human beings began doing ungodly things. However, another big transition is in the future for us, as  long as we have come to faith in Jesus as our Savior. We currently are transitional species between what humans once were in the Garden of Eden and what we will once again be in the heavenly gardens. We will inherit perfect, glorified bodies and sinless souls on the last day, thanks entirely to the life and death of our Savior.


“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). 


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QUESTION OF THE DAY


How many Americans are hurt each year by medication mistakes made by doctors or in hospitals?


Nearly two million Americans are hurt each year when they are given the wrong drug or the wrong dose. This figure doesn’t include the mistakes many people make on their own such as forgetting to take a pill or accidentally double dosing.  Thankfully, most of these mistakes are not fatal.


Source: Bottom Line Personal (December 15, 2011)


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