An asteroid doomed the dinosaurs. But did it drive tuna evolution? | Yale News
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The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago may have cleared the ocean's top predator slots — and handed tuna the evolutionary opening to become speed machines.
Adaptive RadiationPunctuated EquilibriumEcological ReleaseMass Extinction Theory
Theory Briefing
- A long-held theory links the 66-million-year-old asteroid strike to a mass vacancy among large marine predators, potentially reshaping ocean ecosystems.
- Yale researchers are testing whether tuna's remarkable speed and endurance evolved by filling niches left empty after the mass extinction.
- The asteroid's kill list included most large marine predators, which could mean the deadliest space rock in history was also tuna's unlikely benefactor.
- If the theory holds, a single catastrophic event set the evolutionary trajectory of one of today's most commercially important fish.