Tik-tik-tik-tik-tiktaalik

[jeppa]

Here is an adorable music video about the Tiktaalik, which is an extinct genus that is intermediate between fish and tetrapods. Its discoverer, Neil Shubin, calls it the "fishapod." The song is catchy, and the lyrics are quite sweet.

Click to view

via Pharyngula, which is about evolution and atheism and is one of my favourite blogs right now.

Comments

[anonymous]

Awww, that is really cute. Especially the name 'fishapod'.

I hadn't heard of this fish before, but I had read somewhere that Coelacanths have vestigial nubs on their stomachs, and sometimes they sink to the ocean floor and 'walk' on them, which I always thought was adorable.

[mastercylinder]

Um, that was me. Cripes, livejournal, get with it.

[jeppa]

Coelacanths are a transitional form like tiktaalik, except that coelacanths are technically fish and a tiktaalik is halfway between fish and tetrapod. A tiktaalik has rudimentary lungs and a neck. He can't really "walk," but he can use his limbs to do a little pushup so that he can poke the top of his head out of the water and breath. So Tiktaalik is basically a Darwin fish. I'm so in love with fishapods right now.

[hipsunderhands]

he can use his limbs to do a little pushup so that he can poke the top of his head out of the water and breath

That sounds freakin' adorable!

[hipsunderhands]

I totally approve of this video! :)

Also, I'm a dork who missed the "extinct" part of your description, and so for the first thirty seconds of the video, I thought the replica was actually a real Tiktaalik. I am awesome at teh science, hey? :)

[jeppa]

Haha Kieran did the same thing! "He was like, those are cute, where do they live?"

[zeitgeistic]

Aww he's so cute I want one! He looks so real!

[jeppa]

Isn't it a great model? It does look so real.

There's actually a really great video showing how the reconstruction was done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOy1XU0cbY