CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Something fishy is happening in the deep blue sea. In a recent study, scientists documented how a particular fish species known as sea robins evolved to have legs.
Sea robins can easily be called the oddballs of the ocean. Most fish have fins and gills, but these creatures took it a step further and evolved brand-new organs. The six leg-like appendages are extensions of the fish’s pectoral fins, making them a popular creature amongst other fishes. Their legs make it so easy for sea robins to find and uncover buried prey that other fish hang around them and swipe their food supply.
“Sea robins are an example of a species with a very unusual, very novel trait,” says Corey Allard, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and study co-author, in a media release…