It is widely understood in the scientific community that, at some point, life evolved from aquatic to terrestrial. In that evolution, at some point fish must have evolved into amphibians. The question of this evolutionary jump still remains a mystery, but the discovery of a new fossil has shed new light on the issue, filling in some of the many gaps in this evolutionary story. This new fossil, discovered in Canada was of the Tiktaalik, a proto-amphibian of the Devonian period. Although this species was not necessarily a new find, it was a complete fossil. Prior to the discovery of this specific fossil scientists only had the front half of the Tiktaalik fossil, and as such could only speculate about its back half. The accepted evolutionary story at the time was that front legs developed first as the power behind walking on land, with back legs functioning only as weak supports. However, this new fossil was fully complete and showed a highly developed pair of back legs with a very developed pelvis, quite unlike any found. Although the bones in the fishes back leg were not as complicated as those of modern amphibians, they were far more advanced than the average fish of the time and more advanced than the widely accepted belief of the scientific community had suggested. This Tiktaalik fossil discovered by Dr. Neil Shubin, has fascinated the scientific community, as it is a great example of a creature exhibiting a myriad of evolutionary changes. Although the bone structure development here still favors the fin, there is astounding development in both the fore and hind legs that show that mark this creature as a key link between aquatic and terrestrial life.

This image of the Tiktaalik shows an artists representation of the creature before its powerful hind were discovered