Description
Book SynopsisThe book includes photographs of fossils from around the world as well as dramatic color illustrations depicting what those fishes may have actually looked like.
Trade ReviewAnyone wanting an overview of '500 million years of evolution' of fish and aquatic creatures really needs to read this acclaimed text. It is the work of Australian palaeontologist and curator John A. Long, who works at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. This is a second edition incorporating research from the past 15 years. This is not a work of popular science. It is a richly illustrated technical book that will be of interest to anyone wanting to know about fish before they crawled out of the oceans and started the long journey from amphibians to mammals. Sydney Morning Herald 2011
Table of ContentsForeword, by Philippe Janvier
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
1. Earth, Rocks, Evolution, and Fish
2. Glorified Swimming Worms: The First Fishes
3. Jawless Wonders
4. Armored Fishes and Fishes with Arms
5. Sharks and Their Cartilaginous Kin
6. Spiny-Jawed Fishes
7. An Epiphany of Evolution
8. Primitive Ray-Finned Fishes
9. Teleosteans, the Champions
10. The Ghost Fish and Other Primeval Predators
11. Strangers in the Bite: Dipnomorphans
12. Big Teeth, Strong Fins
13. The Greatest Step in Evolution
A Classification of Fishes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
