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As a species, humans owe fish a lot more respect than we give them. After all, just about every characteristic we consider as human really was invented by the fish. Take a look at your hand, for instance. It's really just a modified fin, right down to the bone structure. The jaw we use to talk? That's a slightly changed set of gills. Even the fact we have two arms and two legs is thanks to our fishy origins.
In his new book, Your Inner Fish, Dr. Neil Shubin, the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, explores this relationship between modern humans and ancient fish. As he points out, when you look at anatomy in the context of evolution, some of the seemingly crazy human physical characteristics make a lot more sense. Even some disorders, including hernias and hiccups, are really just legacies of our watery past.
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