The coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae Smith, 1939 [1] (Sarcopterygii: Actinistia), together with the closely related L. menadoensis Pouyaud et al., 1999 [2], remains the only living representative of one of the most basally-branching primary radiations of lobefinned fishes (Sarcopterygii). Even though extant species cannot be considered ‘primitive’ due to the inherent logic of phylogenetic theory...

Anthropogenic underwater sound in the environment might potentially affect the behavior of marine mammals enough to have an impact on their reproduction and survival. Diving behavior of four killer whales (Orcinus orca), seven long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), and four sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) was studied during controlled exposures to naval sonar [low frequency active...

Motor innervation to the tetrapod forelimb and fish pectoral fin is assumed to share a conserved spinal cord origin, despite major structural and functional innovations of the appendage during the vertebrate water-to-land transition. In this paper, we present anatomical and embryological evidence showing that pectoral motoneurons also originate in the hindbrain among ray-finned fish. New and pr...

The complete DNA sequence (16,646 bp) of the mitochondrial genome of the African lungfish, Protopterus dolloi, was determined. The evolutionary position of lungfish as possibly the closest living relative among fish of land vertebrates made its mitochondrial DNA sequence particularly interesting. Its mitochondrial gene order conforms to the consensus vertebrate gene order. Several sequence moti...

Vocal communication is a primary communication method of killer and pilot whales, and is used for transmitting a broad range of messages and information for short and long distance. The large variation in call types of these species makes it challenging to categorize them. In this study, sounds recorded by audio sensors carried by ten killer whales and eight pilot whales close to the coasts of ...

The origin of land vertebrates was one of the major transitions in the history of vertebrates. Yet, despite many studies that are based on either morphology or molecules, the phylogenetic relationships among tetrapods and the other two living groups of lobe-finned fishes, the coelacanth and the lungfishes, are still unresolved and debated. Knowledge of the relationships among these lineages, wh...