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A Look at The Transition From Fish to Tetrapod Through The Anatomy of Tiktaalik

Kali Kocherhans

Salt Lake Community College

GEO 1020: Fossils and Earth History

Chris Johnson

April 17, 2023

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A Look at The Transition From Fish to Tetrapod Through The Anatomy of Tiktaalik

While not a direct ancestor of modern land vertebrates, it is very likely that TIktaalik

roseae is a close cousin of that ancestor, which is why this primitive fish’s anatomy is important

to unlocking answers to land vertebrate evolution (Le Page, 2023). There is evidence of Tiktaalik

being a transition fossil in the anatomy of its detached shoulder girdle, its pectoral fin, the

position of its pelvic bone, its skull and the structure of its lung chamber. By examining these

features and by looking at the environment of the time it was alive, we can hypothesize the

nature of Tiktaalik, and where it fell in the chain of tetrapod evolution.

Tiktaalik roseae lived during the Late Devonian period, before tetrapods were fully

evolved, about 375 million years ago (Le Page, 2023). It was a fish with primitive tetrapod

features that, once discovered, gave answers to many questions regarding how fish began

transitioning to life on land. The fossils that were found of Tiktaalik were very well preserved

and three-dimensional, and in many ways it looked like fish of the time (figure 2 and 3).

However, several features were unique to Tiktaalik, which are indications of this transition. For

instance, the head of Tiktaalik was larger than a typical fish’s, but more importantly it was

detached from the shoulder girdle (Clack, 2009). This offered a more broad range of motion for

Tiktaalik, which resembles a similar range of motion that tetrapods are capable of.

Range of motion and function are important concepts when examining the features of

this transition fossil. For instance, it is hypothesized that Tiktaalik was able to put weight on its

fins, and push its upper body up off of the ground (Clack, 2009). There are several bone

structures that support this idea. One example is their unique pectoral fins.
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A likely function of Tiktaalik’s pectoral fins was flexion and extension, unlike typical fish

fins (Figure 1). There is evidence in the well preserved specimens that shows that the proximal

carpal joint, and the inter-radial joints functioned as modern tetrapod wrists and elbows can

(Shubin et al, 2006). This function could have been used for bearing weight, as Tiktaalik pushed

off of the ground in shallow water (Cloutier, 2020).

Another more recent finding about Tiktaaliks anatomy was where its pelvis, ribs and

spine are arranged. Through x-rays of the fossils, it has been discovered that the animal’s limbs

were becoming connected to its spine by its pelvis. In land vertebrates, there is this connection

between the limbs and the spine, which provides specific functions such as weight bearing and

mobility. In fish, the “pelvic bone” sits freely in the body and is not connected to the fins. In

Tiktaalik, the ribs and spine’s shape suggest that the pelvis was actually connected to the spine

via soft tissue (Le Page, 2023). This could indicate that Tiktaalik’s body was gradually becoming

ready for crawling life on land.

Tiktaaliks skull also suggested that it was ready for life outside of the water. Fish and

other sea creatures typically use suction to feed. This form of feeding doesn't work for land

animals, as they have to bite down on their food in order to eat it. Tiktaaliks skull has the right

joints for suction, but it also has a rigidness that suggests it was very likely capable of snapping

down on plants and prey (Lemberg et al, 2020). This is more evidence that while not a tetrapod,

Tiktaalik is an example of the species in the late Devonian period that were beginning to evolve

in order to find food outside of the water.

Why was life on land something that fish were adapting to? During the late Devonian

period, oxygen levels in the water were becoming very poor (Boyer et al, 2021). A variety of
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plants were also becoming abundant on land (Clack, 2007). So, if Tiktaalik was benefitting from

features that allow it to push off of the ground, articulate its head, bite its prey, and its body

was starting to resemble that of tetrapods, it is likely that it was also benefiting from higher

concentrations of oxygen and food sources outside of the water.

While not fully agreed on, it is hypothesized that Tiktaalik could breathe air. The space

where its lungs would be, the spiracular notch, suggests that the lungs would be larger than

other bony fish of the time (Clack, 2007). This large lung chamber does not directly indicate that

Tiktaalik was able to breathe air, however due to other aspects of its anatomy, and the

environment of the time, it is possible that this was the case.

The discovery of Tiktaalik unlocked answers, and offered new questions regarding the

fish-tetrapod transition. Evolution from life in the water to life on land is, while heavily

researched, in many ways still a mystery. Tiktaalik serves as one puzzle piece to this mystery,

helping to fill in the gap between what we know of this transition and what we have yet to

discover. By looking at its anatomy and considering the conditions of the time, Tiktaalik is not

only an answer to how tetrapods came to be, but perhaps why as well.
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Annotated Bibliography

Ahlberg, P. E., Clack, J. A., Luksevics, E., Blom, H., & Zupins, I. (2008). Ventastega curonica and

the origin of tetrapod morphology. Nature, 453(7199), 1199-204.

https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/venta

stega-curonica-origin-tetrapod-morphology/docview/204540487/se-2

This article takes a close look at the anatomy of Ventastega curonica’s skull, braincase,

shoulders and pelvis. Ventastega was a transition form leading to Tiktaalik. It gives

further insight into the anatomy of Tiktaalik, and illuminates the origin of principle

tetrapod structures.

Boyer, D. L., Martinez, A. M., Evans, S. D., Cohen, P. A., Haddad, E. E., Pippenger, K. H., Love, G.

D., & Droser, M. L. (2021). Living on the edge: The impact of protracted oxygen stress on

life in the late devonian. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 566,

110226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110226

This article explains the oxygen levels during the late Devonian period. It describes that

in water, oxygen levels were very poor. They suggest that this is one of the factors that

led to mass extinction.

Clack, J. A. (2007). Devonian climate change, breathing, and the origin of the Tetrapod Stem

Group. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47(4), 510–523.

https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icm055
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This article explains the environment during the late Devonian, and features of Tiktaalik

that may have suggested that it was capable of breathing air. They describe the oxygen

poor water, and the high abundance of plants on land. They also explain the anatomy of

Tiktaaliks lung chambers, and why this might have meant it could breathe air.

Clack, J. A. (2009). The Fish-Tetrapod Transition: New Fossils and Interpretations. Evolution:

Education & Outreach, 2(2), 213-223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-009-0119-2

This article explains how the forelimbs helped to support the head for breathing air. It

also states when limbed tetrapods originated, between 385-380 million years ago, and

the place, Laurussia. It also goes into describing the circumstances for these anatomy

changes and the need to breathe air.

Cloutier, R., Clement, A. M., Lee, M. S. Y., Noël, R., Béchard, I., Roy, V., & Long, J. A. (2020).

Elpistostege and the origin of the vertebrate hand. Nature, 579(7800), 549-2,554A-554E.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2100-8

This article explores the evolution of the hand. It explains that most eplistostegalians like

Tiktaalik don’t reveal complete anatomy of the pectoral fin. However, Elpistostege

watsoni does. Their fins have four rows of radials that are organized as digits. This article

shows the complexity and the continued findings regarding tetrapod evolution.

Lemberg, J. B., Daeschler, E. B., & Shubin, N. H. (2021). The feeding system of tiktaalik roseae :

An intermediate between suction feeding and biting. Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences, 118(7). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016421118

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This article goes into detail about the feeding systems of Tiktaalik. Specifically, it goes

over the skull’s anatomy and how it offers insight on Tiktaaliks ability to suction feed,

while also being able to bite its prey.

Le Page, Michael, Early crawling fish was evolving a spine more like that of a land animal, New

Scientist, Volume 257, Issue 3427, 2023, Page 9, ISSN 0262-4079,

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(23)00322-6.

This article goes into detail about how Tiktaaliks fins were becoming connected to its

spine. This is important because it is only a feature of land animals, not of fish. This is a

newer finding about Tiktaalik, and gives even more insight into its evolutionary

importance.

Shubin, N. H., Daeschler, E. B., & Jenkins, F. A. (2006). The pectoral fin of Tiktaalik roseae and

the origin of the tetrapod limb. Nature, 440(7085), 764-71.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04637

This article goes into some specific anatomy of Tiktaalik roseae. Specifically, it describes

the joints in the fins being similar to the limb pattern of basal tetrapods. It also offers

insight into how these limbs functioned, and the postures that were possible for tiktaalik

to make because of this anatomy. It goes on to say that the origin of limbs stems directly

from fish such as Tiktaalik.

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Fig. 1

Image a and c show Tiktaaliks pectoral fin anatomy in a resting position. Image b and d

show the flexion of the pectoral fin, and the direction of bone’s movement in this flexion. The

image also depicts this flexion being used to push off of the ground (Shubin, et al, 2006).
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Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Figure 1 is of a well preserved fossil of Tiktaalik roseae (Clack 2009). Figure 2 is of a

modern interpretation of what Tiktaalik likely looked like in its environment (Le Page, 2023).