"Ancient Australian Air-Breathing Fish: A 380-Million-Year-Old Predator Unearthed"
Researchers have discovered a new species of ancient lobe-finned fish, named Harajicadectes zhumini, in Australia's Red Center, dating back 380 million years. This fish, with large fangs and bony scales, is not too distantly related to the fishes that gave rise to the earliest limbed tetrapods and is distinctive for its large openings on the top of its skull, thought to facilitate surface air-breathing. The synchronized appearance of this air-breathing adaptation may have coincided with a time of decreased atmospheric oxygen during the mid-Devonian. This discovery is the culmination of 50 years of exploration and research, with the most complete specimen found in 2016 and transferred to the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory in Darwin.