The invasion of land was a monumental achievement for our ancestors. It was attained through transitions from fish over 375 million years ago. Skeletal and muscular changes enabled locomotion on land, and the transition from gills to lungs enabled air breathing – but there were many more adaptations, including blinking.
DNA sequence analysis and the study of developmental similarities demonstrates that we share a more recent common ancestor with lungfish than with other fish, including mudskippers. As well as shared molecular similarities, like all tetrapods, lungfish share prominent muscular limbs supported by their skeletons, and share similar development of structures called lung buds, not seen in other fish or mudskippers.
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