The Tiktaalik roseae discovery is now demonstrating that many changes that occurred or that are associated with life on land were in fact adaptations for life in shallow waters. It is considered that the Tiktaalik may have been able to exit the water for short periods. The Tiktaalik appears to be an aquatic predator measuring some 9 feet in length, it had sharp teeth and a flattened head like a crocodile, unlike primitive fish. Tiktaalik is seen as a precursor to all land vertebrates including amphibians, reptiles, mammals and eventually humans.
I know that some religious people folk believe in and follow evolution, saying that evolution was/is the act of god, but others do not share this view. Im interested in hearing what those die hard religious folk think of discoveries such as this? Ive heard some opinions before but im interested in hearing those of ATS.
The head showed changes from more primitive fish that helped adapt to the new feeding and breathing conditions presented by a terrestrial environment. Like some other fish of its time, it had gills and lungs.
The scientists described key features in its head and braincase and the decline in size of a bone called the hyomandibula. In fish, this bone links the braincase, roof of the mouth and gill structures and coordinates their motions during underwater feeding and respiration.
As land animals evolved, the hyomandibula eventually became the stapes, one of the tiny bones in the middle ear.
Tiktaalik has features of some of the more primitive fish it lived with as well as features of the first four-legged amphibians that lived on land. Its fins had discernible wrists and elbows in an evolutionary step toward legs that could be used to walk around on dry land.
Other sources
Ive had a quick look at the article mentioned on the 'Nature' website but i cant view the whole article. Nature: International weekly journal of science
Tiktaalik roseae website
