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"Tiktaalik roseae is the most recent discovery in the study of early tetrapod evolution and arguably the most dramatic find in more than a decade. After several years of prospecting remote sections of Nunavut Territory in the Canadian Arctic, Ted Daeschler, Neil Shubin, and Farish Jenkins were able to report on three articulated and numerous isolated specimens of an elpistostegalian lobe-fin that exhibits a remarkable suite of characters transitional between the earliest tetrapods and their fishy precursors. Indeed, it has appropriately been dubbed a "fishapod"."
from http://www.devoniantimes.org/Order/re-tiktaalik.html


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Tiktaalik (pronounced /tɪkˈtɑːlɪk/) is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fish from the late Devonian period, with many features akin to those of tetrapods (four-legged animals).[1] It is an example from several lines of ancient sarcopterygian fish developing adaptations to the oxygen-poor shallow-water habitats of its time,[2] which led to the evolution of amphibians. Well-preserved fossils were found in 2004 on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiktaalik

A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan



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Edward B. Daeschler1, Neil H. Shubin2 and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr3
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Abstract

The relationship of limbed vertebrates (tetrapods) to lobe-finned fish (sarcopterygians) is well established, but the origin of major tetrapod features has remained obscure for lack of fossils that document the sequence of evolutionary changes. Here we report the discovery of a well-preserved species of fossil sarcopterygian fish from the Late Devonian of Arctic Canada that represents an intermediate between fish with fins and tetrapods with limbs, and provides unique insights into how and in what order important tetrapod characters arose. Although the body scales, fin rays, lower jaw and palate are comparable to those in more primitive sarcopterygians, the new species also has a shortened skull roof, a modified ear region, a mobile neck, a functional wrist joint, and other features that presage tetrapod conditions. The morphological features and geological setting of this new animal are suggestive of life in shallow-water, marginal and subaerial habitats. from A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan

Edward B. Daeschler1, Neil H. Shubin2 and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr3
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/abs/nature04639.html