By Andrew V. Ste. Marie
Evolutionists have hyped for many years the so-called fishapods – animals that are basically lobe-finned sarcopterygian fish (like coelacanths) but which have heads similar to some amphibian tetrapods (four-legged animals). These fishapods (formally known as elpistostegids) have been claimed to be transitional forms between fish and tetrapods – sometimes, as in the case with Tiktaalik, with incredible fanfare.
The case that these fish are transitional forms is not very convincing on its own. However, newly published research on tetrapod trackways fromPolandmakes this scenario even less believable.
Evolutionists believe that the elpistostegids lived 386-380 million years ago (mya). Supposedly, the oldest known tetrapods lived around 375 mya. New tetrapod trackways, however, have been found in Poland– in rocks believed by the evolutionists to have been made 395 mya. The scientific paper in the journal Nature which discussed the findings said that these trackways were “well-preserved and securely dated tetrapod tracks…approximately 18 million years older than the earliest tetrapod body fossils and 10 million years earlier than the oldest elpistostegids.” This shows that the elpistostegids could not have been the ancestors of the tetrapods, since tetrapods already existed by the evolutionist’s own reckoning!
It is not surprising that these tracks, which undermine the much-heralded transitional status of the elpistostegids (especially Tiktaalik) have aroused a bit of concern among evolutionists. ScienceNOW has reported that “Other paleontologists are taken aback by the discovery of the tracks. ‘We thought we’d pinned down the origin of limbed tetrapods,’ says Jennifer Clack of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. ‘We have to rethink the whole thing.’” It is true – they do need to rethink their story, for these tracks are a real thorn in their side when it comes to telling the story of tetrapod evolution. This is a good time to reflect on the truth of Genesis 1:25. “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” This is the truth about the origin of limbed tetrapods!
Interestingly, ScienceNOW reports that “the surface around the tracks is amazingly well preserved, with visible cracks from drying mud and the impressions of raindrops.” Could these raindrops have been from Noah’s Flood? “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven…For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights…all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 6:17, 7:4, 11-12).
Sources
1. “Tetrapod trackways from the early Middle Devonian period of Poland,” by Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Piotr Szrek, Katarzyna Narkiewicz, Marek Narkiewicz & Per Ahlberg, Nature 463:43-48
2. “Ancient Four-Legged Beasts Leave Their Mark,” by Andrew Curry, ScienceNOW, www.sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/106/2 (Accessed January 12, 2010)
3. News to Note, January 9, 2010, by Answers in Genesis, www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2010/01/09/news-to-note-01092010 (Accessed January 12, 2010)
4. Creation/Evolution Newsletter, January 15, 2010, by Ian Juby, www.ianjuby.org/jan15_2010.html (Accessed January 19, 2010)
Originally published in The Witness February 2010.