Cast of the Tiktaalik holotype in the Field Museum, Chicago
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Sarcopterygii
Clade:
Tetrapodomorpha
Clade:
Elpistostegalia
Genus:
†Tiktaalik Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins, 2006
Type species
†Tiktaalik roseae
Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins, 2006
Tiktaalik (/tɪkˈtɑːlɪk/; Inuktitut ᑎᒃᑖᓕᒃ[tiktaːlik]) is a monospecific genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) from the Late Devonian Period, about 375 Mya (million years ago), having many features akin to those of tetrapods (four-legged animals).[1]Tiktaalik is estimated to have had a total length of 1.25–2.75 metres (4.1–9.0 ft) based on various specimens.[2]
Unearthed in Arctic Canada, Tiktaalik is a non-tetrapod member of Osteichthyes (bony fish), complete with scales and gills—but it has a triangular, flattened head and unusual, cleaver-shaped fins. Its fins have thin ray bones for paddling like most fish, but they also have sturdy interior bones that would have allowed Tiktaalik to prop itself up in shallow water and use its limbs for support as most four-legged animals do. Those fins and other mixed characteristics mark Tiktaalik as a crucial transition fossil, a link in evolution from swimming fish to four-legged vertebrates.[3] This and similar animals might be the common ancestors of all vertebrate terrestrial fauna: amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.[4]
The first Tiktaalik fossils were found in 2004 on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada. The discovery, made by Edward B. Daeschler of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Neil H. Shubin from the University of Chicago, and Harvard University Professor Farish A. Jenkins Jr., was published in the April 6, 2006 issue of Nature[1] and quickly recognized as a transitional form.
^ abDaeschler, Edward B.; Shubin, Neil H. & Jenkins, Farish A. Jr. (6 April 2006). "A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan" (PDF). Nature. 440 (7085): 757–763. Bibcode:2006Natur.440..757D. doi:10.1038/nature04639. PMID 16598249.
^Stewart, Thomas A.; Lemberg, Justin B.; Taft, Natalia K.; Yoo, Ihna; Daeschler, Edward B.; Shubin, Neil H. (2019). "Fin ray patterns at the fin-to-limb transition". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (3): 1612–1620. doi:10.1073/pnas.1915983117. PMC 6983361. PMID 31888998.
^"What has the head of a crocodile and the gills of a fish?". evolution.berkeley.edu. May 2006. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
^Shubin, Neil (2008). Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. New York: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-375-42447-2.
Tiktaalik (/tɪkˈtɑːlɪk/; Inuktitut ᑎᒃᑖᓕᒃ [tiktaːlik]) is a monospecific genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) from the Late Devonian Period...
Shubin, to characterize Tiktaalik as a "fishapod." Unlike many previous, more fish-like transitional fossils, the "fins" of Tiktaalik have basic wrist bones...
elpistostegalians (also known as Panderichthyida) notably the genus Tiktaalik. A notable feature of Tiktaalik is the absence of bones covering the gills. These bones...
bony fish best adapted to life in shallow coastal/swampy waters (such as Tiktaalik roseae). Thanks to relatively strong, muscular limbs (which were likely...
forms transitional between fish and the early labyrinthodonts, such as Tiktaalik, have been referred to as "fishapods" by their discoverers, being half-fish...
elpistostegalians, combining fishlike and tetrapod-like characters, such as Tiktaalik, are sometimes called fishapods. Although historically Elpistostegalia...
Phylonyms, defines the group as including all taxa closer to Eryops than to Tiktaalik, Panderichthys, or Eusthenopteron. The discovery of the Zachelmie trackways...
Cambrian or Early Ordovician. Vertebrates such as the lobe-finned fish Tiktaalik started to move on to land in the late Devonian, about 375 million years...
conducted by Swartz in 2012 found Elpistostege to be the sister taxon of Tiktaalik. Both were found to be primitive members of the group Elpistostegalia...
hypothesis was supported further by the discovery and 2006 description of Tiktaalik, a well-preserved epistostegalian from the Frasnian of Nunavut. Crucial...
Field Museum of Natural History. He is best known for his co-discovery of Tiktaalik roseae with Ted Daeschler and Farish Jenkins. Raised in Overbrook Hills...
professor at the University of Rajshahi until 2018. She founded Project Tiktaalik in 2018 to develop cartoon-based science education materials. She serves...
with the discovery in its rocks of examples of the transitional fossil, Tiktaalik, a sarcopterygian or lobe-finned fish showing many tetrapod characteristics...
raise the body of the fish. These features are displayed by the earlier Tiktaalik, which like Ichthyostega showed signs of greater abilities to move around...
their strong pectoral and pelvic fins gradually evolved into legs (see Tiktaalik). In the oceans, primitive sharks became more numerous than in the Silurian...
predicted such fossils in 1859, and those later identified as such include: Tiktaalik (transition between fish and amphibians) Ichthyostega (transition between...
transitional creature with characteristics of both fish and land animals — Tiktaalik roseae —and one of the earliest known frogs, Prosalirus bitis. Farish...
identify some of the species that existed during this transition, such as Tiktaalik and Acanthostega. Many of these species were also the first to develop...
basal to Tiktaalik, the humerus of Panderichthys has features that are more derived, but overall is very similar. Both Panderichthys and Tiktaalik have humeri...
period and are descended from Sarcopterygian fish. In 2006, a fossil, Tiktaalik roseae, was found which has many features of its wrist, elbow, and neck...
addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of Tiktaalik in the arctic of Canada. The process of fossilization varies according...
part of a team of researchers that discovered the transitional fossil Tiktaalik. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. He has...
sequence of adaptations: Panderichthys, suited to muddy shallows;not on land Tiktaalik with limb-like fins that could take it onto land; Fully limbed vertebrates...
Stewart et al. (2024) describe the anatomy of the axial skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae, providing evidence of the appearance of the evolution of increased...
undergoing a huge radiation, and tetrapodomorphs, such as the Frasnian-age Tiktaalik, were beginning to evolve leg-like structures. The Kellwasser event and...
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