Two collections of fish fossils found in China, dating back to around 439 to 436 million years, help researchers make major breakthroughs in studying how humans evolved from fish.

The studies led by Zhu Min, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), were published in four papers in the top journal Nature on Wednesday. 

The well-preserved fish fossils, dating back to the early Silurian Period, were discovered in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Guizhou Province respectively by Zhu's team at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the CAS over the past decade.

The fossils include five new species of ancient fish, and among them are the oldest-known jawed vertebrates with teeth, which is significant, according to the researchers.

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