Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik roseae · Tiktaalik was a large, extinct lobe-finned fish with limb-like fins that lived about 375 million years ago, and its fossils were found in Arctic Canada.

It lived about 382.3 to 372.2 million years ago.

Tiktaalik
Photo: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, Public domain
Tiktaalik
Photo: Obsidian Soul, CC BY 4.0
Tiktaalik
Photo: Obsidian Soul, CC BY-SA 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassSarcopterygii
OrderElpistostegalia
FamilyPanderichthyidae
GenusTiktaalik
SpeciesTiktaalik roseae

Where its fossils were found

Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, in Arctic Canada.

Fun facts

  • Tiktaalik is the earliest-known fish to have a neck, so it could move its head separately from its body.
  • Its fins had sturdy inner bones that let it prop itself up in shallow water, much like a four-legged animal.
  • Tiktaalik's fins had a shoulder, elbow and wrist, and the wrist could flex.
  • Its flat skull looked more like a salamander's than like most fish, and it had eyes on top of its head.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).