Bad Day to Be a Creationist

The discovery of a genuine "missing link" fossil on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic is a kick in the teeth for the Intelligent Design crowd. Tiktaalik roseae is one of those things that creationists have always demanded to see: a truly intermediate form that bridges a gap between one clearly defined branch of life's tree and another.


In the case of Tiktaalik, what has been found is the holy grail of evolution: a fish that has begun to develop the characteristics found in land animals. These include fins, scales, and the jaws of a piscine, along with a wrist structure, a flexible neck, and a rib cage like a tetrapods.

The discoverers reported that in addition to being in remarkably intact condition, it was just possible to make out a faint design embossed on the scales: