World's oldest heart found: 380 million years old

Scientists from Curtin University have discovered a perfectly preserved heart along with a fossilized stomach.

intestines and liver of ancient fish. It is 380 million years old and this is a record. The find will help in studying the evolution of jawed vertebrates. The scientists noted that soft tissue from ancient species is rarely preserved.

The study showed that the position of organs inthe body of arthrodires, an extinct class of armored fish that lived during the Devonian period from 419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago, is similar to the anatomy of a modern shark. It also turned out that primitive jawed fish are not so different from us. In any case, the structure of their organs.

“For the first time we observe all the organs together inprimitive jawed fish. It's amazing that they're not that different from us," said Professor Keith Trinajstick of the Curtin School of Molecular and Biological Sciences and the Western Australia Museum.

The preserved stomach of a fossil fish under a microscope.
Photo: Yasmine Phillips, Curtin University

Paleontologists discovered the fossil during2008 expedition to the Gougou Formation. Let us remember that it dates back to the Upper Devonian period and is located in the Kimberley district. Known for its well-preserved fossils of animals that inhabited ancient reefs. The rocks of this formation are black and gray shales and siltstones with lenses and limestone nodules.

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