Running head: YOUR INNER FISH 1

Your Inner Fish

Bryttni D. Pugh

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Your Inner Fish

Your inner fish: A journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body is about the

fascinating discovery of the Tiktaalik fossil by author and paleontologist Neil Shubin. The

Tiktaalik is a fish with limbs that formed from a Hox gene mutation. The sea and land creature

eventually evolved to become reptiles, four-legged animals, and humans, implying that humans

descended from fish and that all species are related but modified. Shubin explores different parts

of the fossil, including the hands, head, eyes, ears, teeth, and nose, and explains the common

developments, the structures, and the variations of each. Lastly, Shubin describes how humans

are faced with pitfalls when it comes to descending from fish. Humans are faced with injuries,

illnesses, diseases, choking, hiccupping, sleep apnea, and an inactive and sedentary lifestyle that

leads to obesity.

One concept Shubins research supports is Darwins theory of evolution. Charles

Darwins theory was influenced by Sir Charles Lyell who developed a geological theory stating

that fossils provided evidence that there was a process of continuous change (Class Notes,

2017). This continuous change meant that one was evolving. Therefore, evolution is a change in

frequency of different alleles over the course of generations (Class Notes, 2017). Darwin

believed that this change was governed by natural selection, a cumulative process that selects

favorable traits that one adapts to. This process can include mutations or random errors in DNA.

In order for one to start changing, there must be variation within the evolutionary process.

Within the process, one can evolve and be altered into a completely different creature with a

slight variation, which Darwin called descent with modification (Class Notes, 2017).

Additionally, evolution is a change in genotype or genetics and phenotype of observable traits.

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Traits and alleles lead to an increase in reproductive success that further leads to an increase in

frequency over time (Class Notes, 2017).

Shubins research on the Tiktaalik fossil demonstrates the concept of evolution as

theorized by Darwin. Evidently, the fish fossil aids the geological idea of Darwins influence, Sir

Charles Lyell, because Shubin describes the Tiktaalik fossil as being the transition from sea to

the primitive land creatures. This is similar to the process of continuous change as Shubin notices

that there is a constant evolutionary process from that particular fish due to the similarities in

body structures. He discovers that Like a fish, it has scales on its back and fins with fin

webbing. But, like early land-living animals, it has a flat head and a neck. And, when we look

inside the fin, we see bones that correspond to the upper arm, the forearm, even parts of the

wrist (Shubin, 2009, p. 22-23). The process of the Tiktaalik fish to the human is due to natural

selection as no one chose to select and breed for any specific trait like in artificial selection. The

evolution of the anatomy of the creature and the loss of a few small bones in a fish like

Tiktaalik led to the particular arrangement and features of land-living creatures like reptiles,

amphibians, and humans. The arrangement one has depends on ones body plan which are

governed by Hox genes. Shubin states that if one mess[es] with the Hox genes [then] you mess

with the body plan in predictable ways and that changes in them brings about changes in the

ways our bodies are put together (2009, p. 110). Although the previous creature can be still in

existence, this simple alteration can lead to a different creature, supporting Darwins idea of

descent with modification. For example, the front-to-back or head-to-tail organization are similar

in creatures like flies, mice, and humans, but the creatures are radically different. There are

different versions of the Hox genes in any animal with a body, and the number of them and/or

the anatomical proportion associated with them will vary (Shubin, 2009, p. 109-110).
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A second concept is the thrifty gene hypothesis which states that it was adaptive in the

ancestral world to store fat and save energy. This is now leading to human obesity as humans are

no longer functioning as hunters and gatherers (Class Notes, 2017). It appears natural to love so-

called bad food, or food rich in fats, because our brains evolved to produce pleasure when

ingesting calorie dense foods (Class Notes, 2017). This motivated humans to desire and intake

many foods that are rich in the source of energy. When hunter-gatherers were around, they

incorporated a Paleo diet, which has more bulk, variability, and fiber and less grains, sugars, and

dairy than the modern diet. This transition from the Paleo to the modern diet occurred with

agricultural development and with the industrial revolution. About a third of the population is

obese, but humans vary in metabolic rate and fat storage mechanisms (Class Notes, 2017).

Hunter-gatherers were very active and athletic, having to outrun their prey by running 20-30

miles a day, having to kill animals, and having to gather items by walking, digging, and carrying

a child (Class Notes, 2017).

Shubin states that fish like the Tiktaalik were quite active in the past because they were

predators and prey in oceans, streams, and land. The reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and

primates (i.e. monkeys and hunter-gatherers) that the fish evolved to were also active (Shubin,

2009, p.186). However, todays humans are not as active as the creatures they descended from.

The author points out that there was nothing from the historical evolution of the fish to the

hunter-gatherer human that could have prepared modern humans for the costs they were going to

endure. He notes that human bodies are still built like the active creatures they evolved from, but

the lifestyle has certainly changed, causing an increase in risk factors that lead to death such as

heart disease and obesity (2009, p. 187). Shubin references the man who hypothesized the thrifty

gene, James Neel, who describes early humans as ones with experiences and periods of searching
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and killing prey and of scarcity and being the prey. However, their bodies during the times where

hunting was unsuccessful were able to save and store fats and resources for survival. They had a

need to store this fat and energy resource because it would be needed and used in the next period

of hunting. Neels hypothesis suggested that this was an advantage in the past, but Shubin states

that modern sedentary lifestyles and the availability of fatty foods has lessened that advantage

(2009, p. 187-188). The pumping of the blood to the veins is also an advantageous action, but

this active system worked better for the Tiktaalik, animals, and early humans. They had to

activate and use their limbs and musculature on a daily basis. Modern humans have pains and

blood restrictions when sitting for long periods of time, being inactive (Shubin, 2009, p. 188-

189).

A third concept is convergent and divergent evolution. Convergent evolution is when

many different species share similar characteristics through natural selection over time.

Divergent evolution is when a trait has been retained in some species but lost in others; these

differences are caused by natural selection, and the different species have to adapt to different

pressures from their environments (Class Notes, 2017).

Shubin describes the discovery of Sir Richard Owen, who noticed that the structure of the

limbs had exceptional similarities among creatures as different as frogs and people as they

have a common design (2009, p. 30). This underlying blueprint consists of one bone, then two

bones, then little blobs, then fingers or toes (Shubin, 2009, p. 31). This arm and leg anatomy

was like convergent evolution because, in humans, thereopod dinosaurs, seals, birds, lizards,

penguins, bats, humpback whales, and pterosaurs, there was a similar characteristic the bone

layout. Also, the human larynx and the gill of a fish and shark are made up of gill arch

cartilages which are similar characteristics in different species; however, humans can produce
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speech with them (Shubin, 2009, p. 189). Shubin furthered Owens discovery by relating it to the

fish. He gives an example of the Acanthostega gunnari fish, who had fully formed fingers on its

fin instead of a flipper like the zebrafish, lungfish, and Eusthenopteron (2009, p. 34-36). This

fish is in the path of divergent evolution because it had lost its fin webbing and formed digits

instead, becoming a limb unlike most fish.

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References

Class Notes (2017).

Shubin, N. (2009). Your inner fish: A journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human

body.