Fossil creates evolution upset

This fossil of a fish is making a big splash in archaeological circles.

The 375-million-year-old creature has been unearthed complete with umbilical cord and embryo attached.

That makes her the planet's oldest vertebrate mum.

She's not the prettiest fish in the pre-historic sea but she is by far the earliest known vertebrate giving birth to live young.

By a massive 200 million years, no less.

And she's got the scientists re-writing evolutionary history.

SOUNDBITE: Doctor John Long, Paleontologist, saying (English):

"I looked under the microscope and I was just gob-smacked."

The placoderm was found in the Gogo area of north Western Australia.

Experts say it's 25 centimetres of fossil but millions of years of discovery.

SOUNDBITE: Doctor Robin Hirst, Museum Victoria, saying (English)

"One of the biggest breakthroughs in paleontology ever made and certainly one of the most significant discoveries every made in Australia."

Placoderms ruled the planet's lakes and seas for nearly 70 million years during the late Devonian period when land animals evolved from fish.

Now it seems they may have been the pioneers of internal fertilisation and live birth - unless another evolutionary upset emerges to steal their crown.

Paul Chapman, Reuters