Trails left in ancient rock have been attributed to fish getting the hang of the then-newfangled concept of crawling. If correct, this would push back the conquest of the land by vertebrates by 10 million years. That’s assuming these pioneers didn’t just nope it out back to the water (like whales later would ), until braver souls (or soles) tried again. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The attraction of land for the first fish to explore seems obvious. Sure, the atmosphere might have been poisonous, but early plants offered plenty of food, and there was also the major attraction of not having anything there trying to eat you. It’s a lot less obvious why a modern fish would try to recreate the journey, but it’s just as

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