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Air-breathing evolved in fishes during the Silurian, prior to the conquest of terrestrial environments, as the first air-breathing groups were still aquatic forms. Among fossil fishes and stem-tetrapods, the air-breathing behaviour was described based on anatomical structures and organs, such as spiracles, skeletal buccal pump components, cranial ribs, well-developed pleural ribs, integumentary dermal skeleton, choanae and calcified lungs. However, due to the rarity of soft tissue preservation in the fossil record, the presence of lungs is mostly described among fossil coelacanths, which present a pulmonary complex covered by ossified lung plates throughout its length. Here, we describe the main differences among fossil coelacanth lungs, review some of the accessory air-breathing structures in fossil fishes and stem-tetrapods and discuss the air-breathing evolution that enabled the rise and development of early vertebrates on the terrestrial environment.
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