Evolution is a great but gradual process. Its been millions of years since the man took his first steps on earth. How it all happened still remains a mystery, though scientists had always been digging in the past to find answers. 

A latest research report, published in ‘Nature’ has put forward an interesting fact. It had always been thought that the first animals to have fingers were tetrapods, but now this notion has been challenged with even more interesting finding. A fossil of the fish Panderichthys, which was recently discovered, has been found to have fingers. 

The author of this study, Catherine Boisvert, of Uppsala University, said, “This was the key piece of the puzzle that confirms that rudimentary fingers were already present in ancestors of tetrapods.”

The fossil of Panderichthys, which was as old as 380 million years, was examined under a CT scan and on the end of the right hand fin of this fossil, Boisvert found digit-like elements. Most of the fossils discovered came from one excavation in Latvia.