Short Wave

Anglerfish Ancestors Once Roamed The Seafloor


Listen Later

There are over 200 species of deep-sea anglerfish; some are long and thin, some are squat and round, some have fins that they use to "walk" along the sea floor, and others have huge eyes set far back into their heads. But how did all this morphological diversity first come to be? Thanks to a new anglerfish family tree, now we know.

Scientists built this evolutionary tree using genetic information from hundreds of samples and anglerfish specimens across the globe. It indicates that anglerfish originated from an ancestor that crawled along the seafloor ... and sheds new light on how experts could think about biodiversity as a whole.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Short WaveBy NPR

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

6,153 ratings


More shows like Short Wave

View all
TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

21,985 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

44,014 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,106 Listeners

Planet Money by NPR

Planet Money

30,635 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,567 Listeners

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,713 Listeners

The NPR Politics Podcast by NPR

The NPR Politics Podcast

25,880 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

12,202 Listeners

Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,346 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,383 Listeners

The Indicator from Planet Money by NPR

The Indicator from Planet Money

9,522 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,240 Listeners

Life Kit by NPR

Life Kit

4,374 Listeners

Consider This from NPR by NPR

Consider This from NPR

6,381 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,285 Listeners