The Devonian: Age of Fishes

• In search of our origins
  • Records of past life
    • The notion of geologic time
    • The history of the Devonian System
  • Witnesses to evolution
  • A lost world
    • Tectonic context
    • Paleogeography
    • Climate
    • A Devonian day
  • Life in crisis
    • The Late Devonian extinction event
• The plant world
  • The conquest of land
  • The first forests
  • The plants of Miguasha
    • Protobarinophyton
    • Archaeopteris
    • Spermasporites
    • Spores by the millions
• The animal world
  • Life in the sea
  • The diversification of fish
  • Toward the first tetrapods
  • The animals of Miguasha
    • A window through time
      • Representativity
      • Fossil quality
      • Specimens by the thousands
    • The food chain
      • Of predators and prey
      • Stomach contents
      • Coprolites
    • Invertebrates
      • The aquatic environment
      • Land-based communities
    • Vertebrates
      • Jawless fish
        • Anaspids
        • Osteostracans
      • Jawed fish
        • Placoderms
          • Antiarchs
          • Arthrodires
        • Acanthodians
        • Actinopterygians
        • Sarcopterygians
          • Actinistians
          • Porolepiforms
          • Dipnoi
          • Osteolepiforms
          • Elpistostegalians

Witnesses to evolution

Few ideas have caused as much of a stir in the general public as the theory of the evolution of species. First proposed, somewhat timidly, at the beginning of the 19th century, the theory was supported by hard evidence from Charles Darwin in his 1859 book on the subject. Though only a coincidence, it is interesting that Darwin completed the first version of his manuscript in 1842, the same year that Miguasha was discovered. Despite being widely accepted among scientists today, the theory still encounters a surprising amount of resistance among non-specialists.

(44 kb)The theory of the evolution of species is based on studies of the living world in which it is possible to observe rapid changes, whether they be in the evolution of a population’s genetic baggage, controlled crossbreedings that “create” new races and varieties, or the disappearance of species, which is itself an integral part of the evolutionary process of life. The bulk of the evidence for the theory, however, is found in the fossil record.

Since its discovery, the Miguasha site has played an important role in the development of evolutionary theories, particularly those concerned with vertebrates. Early on, specific species provoked changes in the various schools of thought on evolution, and of these, Eusthenopteron foordi is by far the most famous. It is this fish that gave rise to the idea that we—as vertebrates, tetrapods, humans—have distant aquatic origins within that animal group!

(44 kb)Species that occupied important places in the evolutionary history of plants are also found at Miguasha. Once abundant along the shores of this ancient waterway, Archeopteris, the earliest known tree, helped build the planet’s first forests, and its presence signalled the appearance of conifers soon thereafter.

Miguasha: A story written in stone

• The Gaspé Peninsula: A world of oceans and mountains
  • The birth of the Appalachians
  • The closing of an ocean
  • A sea of fossils
  • Faunal realms
  • Devonian lands in the Gaspé Peninsula
• The Miguasha Group
  • The Fleurant Formation
  • The Escuminac Formation
    • Geological characteristics
    • Localization systems
    • Biostratigraphy
    • An ancient estuary
    • An environment of exceptional preservation
• Of cliffs and men
  • The Seigniory of Shoolbred
  • A World Heritage Site
  • Miguasha fossils around the world
  • The geology craze of the 19th century
  • The first discoveries
  • Scientists come to Miguasha
  • Links to Scotland
  • Local fossil hunters
  • Erik Jarvik and the Prince of Miguasha
  • The birth of the Miguasha project
  • The 1991 International Symposium
• Le Parc national de Miguasha
  • Protecting a unique heritage
  • Fossil digs and research
  • The on-site museum

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Witnesses to evolution
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© Miguasha National Park 2007

Title: A stamp featuring Eusthenopteron foordi
Author: Issued by Canada Post
Sources: Parc national de Miguasha
Year: 1991

Description:
On June 9, 1991, Canada Post issued this stamp featuring one of the keystone animals in vertebrate evolution, Miguasha’s Eusthenopteron foordi. This Upper Devonian creature launched the theory that a group of ancient fish gave rise to the tetrapods – the first land-dwelling vertebrates – and therefore to us.

Title: Stamp featuring Archaeopteris
Author: Issued by Canada Post
Sources: Parc national de Miguasha
Year: 1991

Description:
This stamp issued by Canada Post on June 9, 1991, features the primitive Devonian tree Archaeopteris. It was the main constituent of the planet’s first forests and is considered to be the ancestor of conifers. The illustration was made using a specimen kept at the Natural History Museum of the Parc national de Miguasha.