Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Lungfish and Tetrapods

Lungfish have been postulated by some as the progenitors of the first amphibians. Lungfish from the Gogo Formation do not support this hypothesis. Lungfish living on the reef in the Devonian were found to be from water depths of 100-200 m, so they would not have had the opportunity, or the necessity, to breath air. To confirm their status as gill breathers, in their gill arches are furrows for the arterial system which are still present in modern fish that respire solely with gills.

Sources & Further reading

John A Long The Rise of Fishes - 500 Million years of Evolution, University of New South Wales Press, 1995

Dipnoi