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Eels are fish

(eocampaign1.com)
178 points speckx | 2 comments | 03 Sep 25 14:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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ajnin ◴[03 Sep 25 22:27 UTC] No.45121064[source]▶
I'm surprised to learn that it is surprising that eels are fish. I mean, they live in water, they have fins, they're generally fish-shaped... What's more surprising is their incredible life cycle and reproductive journey. I'm surprised the author didn't put that in the title.
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yohbho ◴[04 Sep 25 10:47 UTC] No.45125752[source]▶
QI said (roll podcast title) There is no such thing as a fish, since that group is unbelievably diverse.

Strange that birds are dinosaurs, while Pterosaurs are not. Where is the bipedal fish that looks like a reptile or mamal, but is secretely a fish, too?

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1. mutatio ◴[04 Sep 25 11:25 UTC] No.45126030[source]▶
I think it's not about diversity, but lineage. The phenotype for "fish" is so tight and well defined; a salmon is closer related to a human in the tree of life than to a coelacanth even though both are categorised as "fish".
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2. Tagbert ◴[04 Sep 25 13:21 UTC] No.45126975[source]▶
I think you got that comparison backwards.

A coelacanth is a lobe-finned fish which is the group from which tetrapods, and thus humans, evolved.

A salmon is a ray-finned fish which is a very different group. These groups diverged sometime around 300MYA.