Science Memes

10348 readers

2024 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

698

Experiments (mander.xyz)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

47 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (3 children)

okay, but seriously, why did they evolve so differently than modern-day fish? and if we magically reintroduced them, would they be more fit or less fit than modern-day fish?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Less, one of the major genetic innovations of the late Cambrian was development of jaws. The vast majority of these species would get wrecked by modern fish in moments.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's so cool to think we are living in an era of modern superfish, which would absolutely destroy any other fish that ever lived, since fish were upgraded over millions of years to where they are.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Imagine the future with megafishs, having evolved.... fish nets ?... and lasers!... and and barbecues...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Lasers and barbecues not so much yet, but Blue Whales, Humback Whales, and Whale Sharks have effectively turned their teeth into fishing nets.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

It is wild to remember we're all descended from fish. I mostly refer to our primate tendencies (listen to a kid scream and tell me we're not descended from apes) but a lot of our parts, like our skeletons, are highly modified fish parts. It's crazy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Sharks with lazers on thier head! Because everyone deserves a warm meal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I mean, it follows that eventually evolution would produce fauna that would take apart a nuclear submarine in seconds.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I am not a biologist or really anyone with any authority on the matter. Just some guy who likes to read and think about all manner of subjects, so I cannot adequately explain anything here, but if you're interested in the why, it really boils down to the simplicity of morphological structures early in the development of life on earth, to more complex as evolution did its thing. That's not to say that evolution has a goal, just that added complexity often means greater advantages. Also, it isn't as though nothing similar to these creatures exist at all today. These basal forms were a prerequisite to the life we see in the oceans (and on land) today.

Definitely stay interested and read more about morphology and evolution in general! Fascinating stuff.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

One of the big advances around then was being able to be an effective predator at all. It's likely one of the big causes for the Cambrian explosion was the arms race to not be eaten vs being able to eat your neighbors effectively.