Odd vertebrate gets rid of hundreds of genes early in development

Enlarge / There’s no jaw on the front of that face, and all the tissues you see have deleted hundreds of key developmental genes. (credit: Michael Heck, Oregon Fish and Wildlife) Sea lampreys are parasites native to the northern and western Atlantic Ocean that suck blood and other vital fluids from their fellow fish. They […]

Ancient fish skulls shake up the vertebrate evolutionary tree

Enlarge / The skull of a 250 million year old fossil fish and a virtual model of its internal skeleton, along with a life reconstruction. (credit: Andrey Atuchin) Around 400 million years ago, the world was warm. Animals were beginning to emerge from the oceans, and plants began to spread across the Earth. The northern […]