LEWISTON - Bates College and the Lewiston Public Library will launch a yearlong commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin beginning Tuesday with a talk titled "Finding Your Inner Fish."

Neil Shubin, known for his discovery of fishapode Taktaalik roseae - a pre-amphibian estimated to live 375 million years ago - will present two public programs this week during the Darwin at 200 observance.

The shared commemoration will also mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, "The Origin of Species," in which he set forth his theory of evolution.

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, Shubin will appear at Bates College at 4:30 p.m. at Chase Hall Lounge, 56, Campus Avenue. He will discuss anatomical similarities between fish and humans, and human ailments that derive from our fish ancestry.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, from noon to 1 p.m., Shubin will be the featured speaker at the Great Falls Forum at the Lewiston library. The author of "Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body," will speak on "Evolution & the Fish Within Us All."

According to library Director Rick Speer, Shubin will talk about "some of the evolutionary baggage that we carry in our human genetic lineage that originated in lower animals but doesn't always work perfectly for humans. This includes our anatomical patterns that produce everything from hiccups to the propensity for hernias, bad backs and certain cancers."

Shubin is a leading paleontologist and a specialist in the evolutionary development of limbs. He was one of a team of researchers who discovered the Arctic fossil fish "Tiktaalik roseae," which has been called the "missing link" between fish and land animals.

Shubin is the associate dean of the Division of Biological Sciences and the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Anatomy at the University of Chicago, and is the provost of that city's Field Museum.

Admission is free to the Great Falls Forum, with attendees invited to bring brown-bag lunches. Bottled water will be available on site.

In an effort to make the Forum programs more accessible to those rushing in on their lunch hour, the library has forged a new partnership with Guthries cafe through which attendees can have a sandwich delivered to the library in advance of the talk. Those taking advantage of this option should place their orders by calling Guthries at 376-3344 no later than 7 p.m. on the day before the event.

Next in the Darwin at 200 series: The 2006 film "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus," written and directed by Randy Olson, will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Lewiston Public Library's Callahan Hall.

All Darwin at 200 events are open to the public at no cost. For more information about the events at Bates College, go to ats.bates.edu/darwinat200/, or call 786-6490. For more information about the library events, go to www.LPLonline.org or call 513-3135.