World-class palaeontologists and biologists summarise the state-of-the-art on fish evolution and development.

The Evolution of Fish explores what we know about fish evolution, from theories of the past to recent breakthroughs in research. This title also looks at the science behind the research, from studying fossils to analyzing DNA. Features include a glossary, references, websites, source notes, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Where did we come from? It's a simple question, but not so simple an answer to explain—especially to young children. Charles Darwin's theory of common descent no longer needs to be a scientific mystery to inquisitive young readers. Meet Grandmother Fish. Told in an engaging call and response text where a child can wiggle like a fish or hoot like an ape and brought to life by vibrant artwork, Grandmother Fish takes children and adults through the history of life on our planet and explains how we are all connected. The book also includes comprehensive backmatter, including: - An elaborate illustration of the evolutionary tree of life - Helpful science notes for parents - How to explain natural selection to a child

The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks). By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

The history of biology is populated by numerous model species or organisms. But few vertebrate groups have aided evolutionary and ecological research more than the live-bearing fishes of the family Poeciliidae. Found throughout tropical and subtropical waters, poeciliids exhibit a fascinating variety of reproductive specializations, including viviparity, matrotrophy, unisexual reproduction, and alternative mating strategies, making them ideal models for research on patterns and processes in ecology, behavior, and evolution. Ecology and Evolution of Poeciliid Fishes is a much-needed overview of the scientific potential and understanding of these live-bearing fishes. Chapters by leading researchers take up a wide range of topics, including the evolution of unisexual reproduction, life in extreme environments, life-history evolution, and genetics. Designed to provide a single and highly approachable reference, Ecology and Evolution of Poeciliid Fishes will appeal to students and specialists interested in all aspects of evolutionary ecology.

With more than 15,000 species, nearly a quarter of the total number of vertebrate species on Earth, freshwater fishes are extremely varied. They include the largest fish species, the beluga at over 7 meters long, and the smallest, the Paedocypris at just 8 millimeters, as well as the carnivorous, such as the piranha, and the calm, such as the Chinese algae eater. Certain species evolve rapidly, cichlids for example, while others transform very slowly, like lungfish. The fossils of these animals are very diverse in nature, sometimes just small scattered bones where sites correspond to ancient river beds or magnificent fossils of entire fish where there was once a lake. This book covers the history of these fishes over the last 250 million years by exploring the links between their biological evolution and the paleogeographic and environmental transformations of our planet, whether these be gradual or sudden. Gathers and synthetizes data from a vast number of publications regarding past freshwater assemblages and several fish lineages that invaded freshwaters Describes the work of the author's own team, concerning fauna from the Cretaceous of France, Morocco, and Thailand Presents the recent results of the tempo of diversification in freshwater environments and the evolutionary histories of clades and gar lineages

I have revised Moy-Thomas's widely used book on Palaeozoic fishes in an attempt to incorporate some of the considerable advances that have been made in this field over the last 30 years, which have in some respects made the first edition seriously out-of-date. The book is now inevitably longer, but its scope remains the same and the original approach has been main tained as far as possible. I have, however, undertaken a certain amount ofre arrangement of the contents, consonant with our changing views of fish evolution, and have tried to reflect some of the current preoccupations of students of fish evolution in expanded sections on mode of life and relation ships. The illustrations have been completely replaced, and in selecting the figures I have been faced with an embarrassing richness of source material. In an attempt to keep the figures down to a reasonable number, I have decided that it is better to have a few species illustrated with clear drawings than give thumb-nail sketches of all the forms mentioned in the text, and as far as possible to restrict the illustrations to Palaeozoic species. All the illustrations have been redrawn to a common style, and in some cases they have been specially prepared or modified for this book. Authors' names are now included in the text and a list of references is given at the end of each chapter.