Tiktaalik, the missing link between fish and land animals

8220;We used to think of this transition of the neck and skull as a rapid event largely because we lacked information about the intermediate animals,8221; said study author Neil Shubin, of the University of Chicago and Field Museum.

He said Tiktaalik 8220;neatly fills this morphological gap8221;. 8220;It lets us see many of the individual steps and resolve the relative timing of this complex transition,8221; Shubin stressed.

8220;The new study reminds us that the gradual transition from aquatic to terrestrial lifestyles required much more than the evolution of limbs,8221; said Ted Daeschler, co-leader of the team that discovered Tiktaalik.

The team discovered Tiktaalik roseae on Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut Territory, 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the Science Daily online reported. A predator, up to nine feet long, with sharp teeth, a crocodile-like head and a flattened body, Tiktaalik8217;s anatomy and way of life straddle the divide between fish and land-living animals.