Jun 23, 2024
Daily fish fact #783
Grey bichir!
It is able to move across land with the use of its pectoral fins, granted it stays wet. An experiment conducted on this species of fish raised several young individuals in tanks with only a few millimeters of water (and misters, which made sure the fish were moist), to see if there were any differences in their development compared to water-raised bichirs to hint at how the first tetrapods came to be. They found that these land-raised bichirs held their head higher by keeping their pectoral fins closer to their bodies, their collarbones were sturdier, and the bones connected to their skull changed to allow for more free movement!