Fishy Story: Another Transitional Fossil

Found in the Canadian Arctic, the new fossil boasts leglike fins, scientists say. The creature is being hailed as a crucial missing link between fish and land animals—including the prehistoric ancestors of humans.

Researchers say the fish shows how fins on freshwater species first began transforming into limbs some 380 million years ago. The change was a huge evolutionary step that opened the way for vertebrates—animals with backbones—to emerge from the water.

"This animal represents the transition from water to land—the part of history that includes ourselves," said paleontologist Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago.

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