Navigated to Episode 231 - Back to the Water (Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates)

Episode 231 - Back to the Water (Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates)

Nov 23, 2025
2h 43m

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Episode Description

Nearly 400 million years ago, an unusual group of fish gave rise to the first land-dwelling vertebrates. Since then, their descendants have repeatedly moved back into the water. This episode, we explore the many ways these species adapt to the challenges of turning a terrestrial body into one that can survive at sea, and we investigate some of the most famous and confusing cases from the fossil record.

In the news: post-extinction oceans, croc eggs, damaged dino tails, and meat-eating dung beetles.

Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:05:45 
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:40:15
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:31:35
Patron question: 02:30:30

Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast

Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/

Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent

The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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