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Mudskippers, a subfamily of fish that live both on land and in the water, are the only fish that can blink, and they evolved this ability independently from our ancestors, a concept known as convergent evolution.
Scientists think that blinking evolved in land animals when they made the transition from the oceans roughly 375 million years ago. Therefore, studying this example of convergent evolution has offered clues as to how our primordial ancestors first took to Earth’s shores.
“Animals blink for many reasons,” said Thomas Stewart, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University. “It helps us keep our eyes wet and clean, it helps us protect our eyes from injury, and we even use blinking for communication.
This story is from the Issue 178 edition of How It Works UK.
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This story is from the Issue 178 edition of How It Works UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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