Fin - Evolution of Fins

Evolution of Fins

There is an old theory, that has been often disregarded in science textbooks, "that fins and (later) limbs evolved from the gills of an extinct vertebrate". Gaps in the fossil record had not allowed a definitive conclusion. In 2009, researchers from the University of Chicago found evidence that the "genetic architecture of gills, fins and limbs is the same", and that "the skeleton of any appendage off the body of an animal is probably patterned by the developmental genetic program that we have traced back to formation of gills in sharks".

Aristotle Aristotle recognised the distinction between analogous
and homologous structures, and made the following prophetic comparison

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