{"id":544,"date":"2008-07-10T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-10T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/a-half-flat-flatfish.html"},"modified":"2014-11-14T05:30:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T04:30:30","slug":"half-flat-flatfish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html","title":{"rendered":"A half flat flatfish!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or half an eye? If it doesn\u2019t have any survival benefit, then how could it evolve? Evolution, after all, is blind \u2013 there is no plan or purpose. Each organism survives or dies on its own merits (or plain dumb luck).<\/p>\n

Most of these challenges have been answered long ago. As Prof David Dutch (University of Wisconsin) points out<\/a>, half a wing \u2013 and less \u2013 could make all the difference in the world if it lets you jump an extra centimetre. And half an eye puts you way ahead of blind competitors.<\/p>\n

But what about flatfish?<\/span><\/p>\n

Flatfish make a living lying on the sea floor, peering upwards by virtue of the fact that both eyes are on one side of their head. But what earthly use could it be for some ancestor flatfish to have one eye shifted only part-way round its head? It would, after all, still point into the sand. Just not straight down\u2026<\/p>\n

The truth is that no-one knows what use it would be, which has lead some to propose that no such intermediate forms exist or are needed. In this \u2018hopeful monster\u2019 argument (first made by the geneticist Robert Goldschmidt in the 1930s), some freak mutation may have generated a fish with two eyes on one side in one step \u2013 and this freak managed to put the mutation to good use.<\/p>\n

But it turns out that this is not what happened. Today\u2019s Nature<\/a> carries a report of the discovery of an intermediate flatfish ancestor, with eyes swivelled part way round. Now, flatfish start off symmetrical, and one eye moves round as the fish develops. But these are not immature fish, because they are too big and also the bones are ossified \u2013 which only happens after metamorphosis.<\/p>\n

Still, what good is a half-formed flatfish? This discovery doesn\u2019t answer that \u2013 though Dan Cressey, writing in Nature, suggests<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible that the asymmetrical eyes may have allowed the creatures to bottom-feed, watching for predators above while lifting themselves up on their fins to look for prey on the sea floor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s just as remarkable about this new discovery is that it wasn\u2019t made in some fossil bed newly discovered in an exotic location, but rather in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in Vienna (and other museums in England, France and Italy). They were originally dug out of limestone quarries in Northern Italy and underneath modern-day Paris, and have lain in collections ever since \u2013 until Matt Friedman, a PhD student studying evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago in Illinois, discovered their significance. According to Matt<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose there is a general perception that museum collections are dusty, static archives, and that everything in them has been carefully studied and precisely identified. But the truth is that they are much more than just long-term storage, because as our interpretive framework matures, we can begin to make sense of specimens that evaded or baffled earlier generations of researchers, or draw new conclusions about materials we mistakenly thought we had figured out ages ago.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Makes you wonder how many other missing links are field away in some museum drawer somewhere, just waiting to be discovered!<\/p>\n

Refs<\/span><\/p>\n

Friedman M. (2008) The evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry. Nature<\/em>, 454(7201), 209-212. DOI: 10.1038\/nature07108<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel Cressey. The eyes have it. Published online 9 July 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038\/news.2008.946<\/a><\/p>\n

University of Chicago Medical Center. \u201cFlatfish Fossils Fill In Evolutionary Missing Link.\u201d ScienceDaily<\/u><\/a> 10 July 2008.<\/p>\n

Living the Scientific Life blog:
The mysterious origin of the wandering eye. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or half an eye? If it doesn\u2019t have any survival benefit, then how could it evolve? Evolution, after all, is blind \u2013 there is no plan or purpose. Each organism survives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA half flat flatfish!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A half flat flatfish!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-10T19:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-14T04:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/images\/2008\/07\/080709144213-large.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html\",\"name\":\"A half flat flatfish!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-10T19:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-14T04:30:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\"},\"description\":\"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A half flat flatfish!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"description\":\"The science of religion and non-belief\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Epiphenom\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A half flat flatfish!","description":"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A half flat flatfish!","og_description":"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html","og_site_name":"Epiphenom","article_published_time":"2008-07-10T19:12:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-14T04:30:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/images\/2008\/07\/080709144213-large.jpg"}],"author":"Epiphenom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Epiphenom","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html","name":"A half flat flatfish!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-07-10T19:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-14T04:30:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1"},"description":"One of the common challenges thrown at evolutionary theory is the apparent uselessness of intermediate forms. What use is half a wing, for instance, or","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/07\/half-flat-flatfish.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A half flat flatfish!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/","name":"Epiphenom","description":"The science of religion and non-belief","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1","name":"Epiphenom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Epiphenom"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}