Fishes that walk, fishes that breathe air, fishes that look like-and are-monsters from the deep. These and many more strange creatures swim through
The Rise of Fishes, John A. Long's richly illustrated tour of the past 500 million years. Long has updated his classic work with illustrations of recent fossil discoveries and new interpretations based on genetic analyses. He reveals how fishes evolved from ancient, jawless animals, explains why fishes have survived on the Earth for so long, and describes how they have become the dominant aquatic life-form. Indeed, to take things a step further, we learn much about ourselves through this book, for all amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are descendants of ancient fishes.
Clear, accessible, and engaging,
The Rise of Fishes combines scientific expertise with entertaining stories about Long's own excursions, which span the oceans and continents. The book includes photographs of fossils from around the world as well as dramatic color illustrations depicting what those fishes may have actually looked like.
By:
John A. Long (Strategic Professor in Palaeontology Flinders University)
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: second edition
Dimensions:
Height: 279mm,
Width: 216mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 1.338kg
ISBN: 9780801896958
ISBN 10: 0801896959
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 15 December 2010
Recommended Age: From 17
Audience:
College/higher education
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword, 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
John A. Long is the vice president of Research and Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. His numerous books include Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution and Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biostratigraphy and Biogeography, also published by Johns Hopkins.
Reviews for The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution
Anyone 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