What is Tiktaalik?
{{Italic title}}{{Taxobox | name = ''Tiktaalik'' | fossil_range = Upper [[Devonian]] | image = Tiktaalik Chicago.JPG | image_width = 220px | image_caption = ''Tiktaalik'' | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Sarcopterygii]] | subclassis = [[Tetrapodomorpha]] | genus = '''''Tiktaalik'''''}} '''''Tiktaalik''''' is a [[genus]] of [[extinction|extinct]] fish. This [[Sarcopterygii|sarcopterygian]] (lobe-finned) [[fish]] from the later [[Devonian]] has many features similar to those of [[tetrapod]]s (four-legged animals).<ref name=Nature>{{cite journal | quote=no | journal = Nature | volume = 440 | pages = 757–763 | date = 2008 | doi = 10.1038/nature04639 | title = A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan | url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/abs/nature04639.html | author = Edward B. Daeschler, Neil H. Shubin and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr| issue = 7085 | pmid = 16598249 | s2cid = 4413217 }}</ref> ''Tiktaalik'' lived about 375 million years ago. It is part of the [[transitional fossil|transition]] between fish such as ''[[Panderichthys]]'', known from fossils 380 million years old, and early tetrapods such as ''[[Acanthostega]]'' and ''[[Ichthyostega]]'', known from fossils about 365 million years old. Its mixture of [[basal]] fish and [[derived]] tetrapod characteristics led one of its discoverers, [[Neil Shubin]], to call ''Tiktaalik'' a '[[Tetrapodomorpha|fishapod]]'.<ref>John Noble Wilford, ''The New York Times'', [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/science/05cnd-fossil.html?hp&ex=1144296000&en=fe3427d67e965e46&ei=5094&partner=homepage ''Scientists call fish fossil the missing mink''], April 5, 2006.</ref><ref name=Innerfish>{{cite book|last=Shubin|first=Neil|title=Your inner fish|url=https://archive.org/details/yourinnerfishjou00shub_0|publisher=Pantheon|year=2008|isbn=9780375424472}}</ref> This, and other species like it, prove that legs started to develop before these animals were land-based. They were shallow-water [[carnivorous]] fish, or [[fishapod]]s.<ref na