The prehistoric fish Tiktaalik is the earliest known animal with fingers  Since variations were so great among prehistoric fish species, Tiktaalik would not have stood out as unusual at the time
However, Tiktaalik' s fingers were an important development in animal evolution because it is likely that Tiktaalik is an ancestor to the many land animals with fingers
The evolutionary significance of Tiktaalik could not be determined just through comparison to fish species of its time.