Meet Australia’s oldest freshwater fish, which can breathe air like a land dweller

Meet Australia’s oldest freshwater fish, which can breathe air like a land dweller

Source: smh

7/7/2022

Credit: California Academy of Sciences

Humans are not so different from the Australian lungfish, which look similar to the ancient creatures that crawled out of the oceans millions of years ago and evolved, first into beings with four flipper-like appendages, then into people.

We can both breathe air through lungs, have enamel on our teeth and now scientists have found the fish can even live to the age of 100 and beyond

The discovery was made through DNA testing of a sample taken from a lungfish called Granddad, who was shipped to Chicago on a 20-day voyage in 1933 for the world’s fair and lived at the Shedd Aquarium for 84 years until he was euthanised due to failing health.