One of the most extraordinary transitional fossils has been found - a 383 million year old ‘Fishapod.’ Transitional fossils are the remains of two different kinds of organisms mixed together. This one is called Tiktaalik (pronounced tic-TAH-lick) and means ‘large shallow water fish.’

Fossils of the recently discovered creature are approximately 9ft long and were dub out of rock formations on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. It’s been dubbed ‘fishapod’ because it has the scales, teeth and gills of a fish but also a neck, bones in its pectoral fins that look like a primitive wrist and fingers, a big rib cage, which suggests the creature had lungs.

The discovery adds to the growing number of transitional fossils that evolution advocates cite as proof. In particular, it’s a great example of the fish-tetrapod transition.

For coverage, see Time, Nature, and the NY Times.

Source: Boing Boing