If Fish Could Walk . . .

Tiktaalik has been touted as evidence of how a limbless fish could turn into an amphibian. The specialized front fins grabbed the headlines in 2006. With the recent discovery of well-preserved pelvises and a partial rear fin, researchers are rethinking their assumptions about that end of the story. Apparently the hind parts had more power than previously thought.1

Evolutionary scenarios had assumed fish crawled out of the water on their front fins and evolved “four wheel drive” later. But according to University of Chicago professor Neil Shubin, this evolution started before fish crawled onto land.1

Even with the less complete Tiktaalik fossils of 2006, creationists pointed out that modern lobe-finned fish have bones in their pelvic fins. A “robust” pelvic girdle and pelvic fins help these creatures move under water. It’s a huge jump to argue that the hind fins could later help them walk on land. Many new structures are needed to produce ambulatory limbs, including attachments to the creature’s backbone. Tiktaalik could swim quite well, and it was clearly a fish, not a land animal.

From the Bible, we know creeping things were created on Day Six of Creation Week, while fish were formed on Day Five. These biblical differences remain distinct in both living animals and the fossils.