After devastation, the first life appears in water

“Because after devastation, the whole universe is filled up with water.
So in the water the first living beings are the fishes or the aquatics.
Then that fish or aquatic means a living entity embodied by that fish
body. Just like we are now, every one of us… I am also a soul, you are
also a soul. We are embodied by this body, human form of body.
Similarly, we had to accept the body of a fish. Because we are in this
material world, when there is water only, where shall we go?”

Ref. VedaBase => Lecture — London, July 12, 1972