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| Six limbs; multi limbed fauna | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 18 2011, 06:31 PM (1,295 Views) | |
| Constructicon | Jan 18 2011, 06:31 PM Post #1 |
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Zygote
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I had this idea for some time now, The idea is that what if the first amphibian like creature to colonize the land had six legs instead of four. the following event are very similar to the time line that we know: the plant life stays near the same, Geological events are exactly the same, and extinction events happen the same, the only differences is the fauna has six limbs. no what I wondered what would life be like today if evolution took this little detour? |
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| Jasonguppy | Jan 18 2011, 07:21 PM Post #2 |
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Cardinal
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Very wierd. DRAGONS |
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I do art sometimes. "if you want green eat a salad" Projects: Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs. Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes. ❤️❤️~I'm not a boy~❤️❤️ | |
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| Dragon wasp | Jan 18 2011, 07:23 PM Post #3 |
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Prime Specimen
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it would be very interesting. I love six-limbed creatures. |
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| urufumarukai | Jan 18 2011, 07:31 PM Post #4 |
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Hitler is my spirit animal
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lovely concept. |
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Henry you dick! Mr. Hands "Am I boring? Depends, do you like watching documentaries about 19th and 18th century warfare, having complicated feelings about bismark and crying over the film of winston churchill putting flowers on FDR's grave. If so then I'm so fucking boring. " | |
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| Rhob | Jan 18 2011, 07:52 PM Post #5 |
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Adult
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That would mean that sarcopterygian fishes would have had three pairs of lateral fins instead of just two. Can anyone think of a good evolutionary reason why this would have been the case? |
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| Jasonguppy | Jan 18 2011, 07:55 PM Post #6 |
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Cardinal
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maybe they evolved 3 pairs of fin as cartilaguinous fgish |
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I do art sometimes. "if you want green eat a salad" Projects: Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs. Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes. ❤️❤️~I'm not a boy~❤️❤️ | |
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| Rhob | Jan 18 2011, 08:03 PM Post #7 |
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Adult
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Sure, that's possible. I guess I should have been clearer. My point was that, at some point before amphibious forms evolved, a third pair of lateral fins must have evolved. The question is, what could have led to that? How would it have been selected for? |
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| Canis Lupis | Jan 18 2011, 08:16 PM Post #8 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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It could have potentially allowed for a speedier getaway from oceanic predators. |
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| urufumarukai | Jan 18 2011, 08:19 PM Post #9 |
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Hitler is my spirit animal
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Perhaps they could have been used to claamp to a mate during reproduction and in later stages to hold the eggs/young. |
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Henry you dick! Mr. Hands "Am I boring? Depends, do you like watching documentaries about 19th and 18th century warfare, having complicated feelings about bismark and crying over the film of winston churchill putting flowers on FDR's grave. If so then I'm so fucking boring. " | |
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| Rhob | Jan 18 2011, 09:41 PM Post #10 |
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Adult
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How? Fish swim using lateral body undulations starting just behind the head and moving toward the tail. Pectoral fins, being close to the head, were initially used both for stabilization and maneuvering. Pelvic fins, on the other hand, seemed to have been first used to stabilize the tail against rolling. I'm not sure why a fish would need a third pair of stabilizers. However, tuna and mackerel sharks have evolved paired lateral keels near their tail fins -- could they lead to a third pair of lateral fins? |
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| Rhob | Jan 18 2011, 09:44 PM Post #11 |
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Adult
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It seems like those functions are too specialized for the appendages to be re-purposed as generalized limbs. |
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| Canis Lupis | Jan 18 2011, 10:54 PM Post #12 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Hmmm...I was more thinking of something to provide an added thrust to the body. Maybe an extra pair of fins would add stabilization to the tail, which provides a lot of thrust? |
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| Zoroaster | Jan 18 2011, 11:45 PM Post #13 |
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Fecund Fundiment
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I'd say we'd probably also be looking at freshwater fish wouldn't we? Even so, most freshwater fish also swim by lateral undulations... Perhaps a "flatter" mud living freshwater fish beats the proto-amphibian fish of our timeline onto land? In my HabZone project - Zarathustra, on its moon Cyrus, there are freshwater vertebrates, that swim by vertical undulations, they evolve into 6 limbed "amphibious" vertebrates |
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The Speccer Formerly Known As Magoo... My exobio project(s) : Hormizd / Zarathustra ![]() | |
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| Rick Raptor | Jan 19 2011, 10:44 AM Post #14 |
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Adolescent
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I really like the idea of terrestrial Vertebrates starting with six limbs because it would allow them to become even more diverse. They could evolve into centaur-like creatures which run on four legs but still have two free limbs for manipulation or they could become dragon-like with four legs and two wings or maybe you could even have four-winged animals still with two legs to walk on like Avatar´s Leonopteryx and with six limbs to support their weight Vertebrates may have been capable of becoming even larger tan sauropods. The only problem with this fascinating idea is that I have no idea either how and why Sarcopterygians should evolve six limbs instead of just two. |
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| Scrublord | Jan 19 2011, 01:36 PM Post #15 |
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Father Pellegrini
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Maybe they evolved from gill covers. Climbing Perch use their gill covers to push themselves along over land, so why no these guys? |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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1:45 PM Jul 11