The species that gave rise to salmon

They found them well above the Arctic Circle, an environment with months of winter darkness and icy temperatures. They are fossils of the oldest known relatives of salmon and tent. It would be the species that gave rise to salmon.

They used advanced 3D image technology. Researchers at Western Ontario University analyzed fossilized fish bones. They were on the rocks of the Prince Creek formation in Alaska. And revealed a polar ecosystem so far unknown.

Resistant fish

"Here was the evolutionary launch platform for the fish that now dominate the rivers and lakes of the north of the world." He affirmed it in a statement Van Loon, investigator. Some fossils were barely larger than the head of a pin and were deeply embedded in the rock. The specimens were too fragile. Very advanced precision and technology methods had to be used for analysis. Traditional methods did not work.

They digitally rebuilt the anatomy of these old 3D fish. They reached an extraordinary level of detail. The scanners allowed to identify completely new species. The species that gave rise to salmon and the tent is among them.

The Sivulliusalmo Alaskensis species was called, which means "first salmon of Alaska" in Iñupiaq. He is now the oldest known member of the salmon family. These old fish were survivors. At the end of the Cretaceous, the Arctic experienced four months of total darkness per year. It had average annual temperatures of around 6 ° C and icy winters. They adapted to life in the cold.

Lost polar world

«This discovery changes our understanding of the evolution of fish. He suggests that high latitudes ecosystems such as Alaska not only received species from the south. But also created them, ”they say. "The characteristics we observe in the salmon and the current north fish probably evolved in polar environments like this, millions of years ago."

In fact, this study supports the idea of ​​a specific Arctic ecosystem. It is known as the province of Paanaqtat. There, unique animals -dinosaurus, mammals and now fish- evolved in isolation. «Thanks to this discovery, we now have a clearer vision of a lost polar world a long time ago. It gives us a new understanding of how some of today's most emblematic fish began their evolutionary trip ».