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Submitted: January 17
Image Size: 245 KB
Resolution: 789×843

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Flatfish Evolutionby ~scythemantis

Digital Art / Drawings / Animals

Just a quick, crappy cartoon doodle I made for this article: [link]

Flatfish didn't evolve because they got jealous of stingrays or anything; the ray is there to demonstrate its more conventional "flatness."

Flatfish are related to more laterally (sideways) flattened fish, so they flipped onto their sides to hug the ground, one eye migrating to the opposite side of the skull.

~kingcarnagh Mar 10, 2013 Professional Traditional Artist

haha! well done!

~Lichard Jan 18, 2013 Hobbyist Writer

Pokemon should definetly have a pokemon that evolves like this. It would be epic!

~The-Episiarch Jan 17, 2013

Here's a link to the paper showing how it happened in the fossil record: [link]
Friedman, M. (2008) The evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry. Nature 454: 209-212 doi:10.1038/nature07108

~scythemantis Jan 18, 2013 Hobbyist General Artist

aw it didn't work! I've seen the fossil species showing only slight eye drift though

~The-Episiarch Jan 18, 2013

Hmm, weird that link didn't work. Well, to make up for it, here's the figures from it: [link]

And a blog post from Ed Yong about it: [link]
And a blog post from Carl Zimmer: [link]

*Omny87 Jan 17, 2013

I love the blue fish in the first panel. I can imagine him going "HARUMPH! I can do better!".

*ratravarman Jan 17, 2013 Hobbyist Photographer

Good that you explain things. It is noteworthy that the larval form of any creature is a semblance of the ancestral form from which it evolved into its present state. The larva of flatfish like the flounder looks like a conventional fish until it begins to mature and assume the unusual hyper-lateral presentation.

~Orima-Kazooie Jan 17, 2013 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

I can't stop laughing

*Sunjinjo Jan 17, 2013 Hobbyist Writer

Faving because I loved the article and it does seem as if the regular fish is flattening because it got jealous.

!GalacticGoat Jan 17, 2013 Hobbyist General Artist

I remember the first time I saw a flatfish, I was very amused. anyway lovely illustrations here :3

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