| Tiktaalik Temporal range: 375–Late Devonian Ma | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| clade: | Sarcopterygii |
| Genus: | † Tiktaalik Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins, 2006 |
| Type species | |
| † Tiktaalik roseae Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins, 2006 | |
Tiktaalik roseae was a lobe-finned fish from late Devonian Canada. This fish is extremely important because it was one (if not the first) of the first vertebrates to walk on land. Lobe-finned fish like Panderichthys and Eusthenopteron had very specialized fins suited to moving into shallow, swampy woods, but Tiktaalik had the ability to move onto land. The lobe-finned fish developed lungs more suited to being on land and their fins grew digits. Following it, Ichthyostega and Acanthostega were able to spend more in the water.
Description[]
Tiktaalik provides insights on the features of the extinct closest relatives of the tetrapods. Unlike many previous, more fish-like transitional fossils, the "fins" of Tiktaalik have basic wrist bones and simple rays reminiscent of fingers.
Paleobiology[]
Classification and evolution[]
Phylogenetic position[]
Discovery[]
Tiktaalik/Gallery