> Randy wrote to Brian:
>
> >I was wondering if you could explain to me how fish which had gills and no
> >lungs could develop lungs loose their gills and still survive. I am not
> >debating eye witness accounts of fish climbing out of the water and
> >walking on dry land.
>
> In the case of the amphibians, the latest fish in the amphibian/tetrapod
> transition had both lungs and gills.
So were we all amphibians?
> Ichthyostega-- Is the first animal with feet but they
> are different than most tetrapod feet. They are much like
> Acanthostega but has 7 digits on his hindlimb. He has lungs. His
> legs were only good for being in water. They could not support
> his weight. (Coates and Clack, 1990, p. 67) These are half
> evolved legs since they have more digits than the normal tetrapod
> but fewer bony rays than the fish and they are unable to support
> the weight. This contradicts Gish's statement that there are no
> half-evolved feet. (Gish, 1978, p. 79) Ichthyostega had external
> nasal openings and a choana like that of the Panderichtys
> (Schultze, 1990, p. 35). His tail was long with fins above and
> below like that of Panderichthys and Acanthostega. (Carroll,
> 1992, p. 46). His legs were tetrapod having humerus, ulna and
> radius in the forelimb and femur, tibia and fibula in the
> hindlimb. (see diagram Carroll, 1992, p. 46).
I do appreciate all your hard work in looking up all this information but
do you really believe that our legs evolved from fins? I can't buy that
but at any rate as stated earlier I do not contest eye witness accounts of
fish walking out of water.