Fish may seem a rather dull topic, but there are more species of fish than all other types of vertebrates put together, and some of them are weird. And the weird ones that are around today can't hold a candle to the weird ones that were around in the past. To find out more about the strange finny creatures of days gone by and the other animals they shared their world with, try any of these:
CINCINNATI FOSSILS
Davis, R. A.
c.1992, CMNH
ISBN: 1-882151-00-3
A guide to the geology and common fossils of the Cincinnatian epoch of the Ordovician Period. A publication of the Cincinnati Natural History Museum.
DISCOVERING FOSSIL FISHES
Maisey, John
c.1996, Henry Holt
ISBN: 0-8050-4366-7
A detailed look at fossil fishes, and the evolution of the fishes through geologic time.
A FISH CAUGHT IN TIME: The Search for the Coelacanth
Weinberg, Samantha
c.2000, HarperCollins
ISBN: 0-06-019495-2
LIVING FOSSIL: The Story of the Coelacanth
Thomson, Keith S.
c.1991, Hutchinson Radius
ISBN: 0-09-175115-2
The coelacanth is a very special fish. Coelacanths were once relatively common fishes in Earth's oceans. Then, at the end of the Mesozoic Era, they all vanished from the fossil record. At first, it was thought they had become extinct in the great dying that ended the Mesozoic. But it wasn't so. In the 1930s, a very peculiar fish was caught off the South African coast. It proved to be a new species of coelacanth. A few more have been caught since then -- some off South Africa, others off Madagascar, and most recently a few near some islands in the Indian Ocean.
ON METHUSELAH'S TRAIL: Living Fossils and the Great Extinctions
Ward, Peter Douglas
c.1992, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-2203-8
Peter Ward is a palaeontologist who specializes in ammonites and other marine invertebrates. Such animals have always been good indicators of mass extinctions, the "great dyings" that have occurred occasionally in Earth's history. This book is Ward's look at the great dyings, and the possible reasons and factors behind them.
THE RISE OF FISHES
Long, John A.
c.1995, Johns Hopkins Univ Press
ISBN: 0-8018-5438-5
Another look at the evolutionary history of fishes. This book is richly illustrated with photos and drawings of fossil specimens.
