Preface

Melanie L.J. Stiassny; Lynne R. Parenti; G. David Johnson

As editors of this volume we are well aware that the first Interrelationships of Fishes presents us with what must surely be considered a "hard act to follow," and perhaps not surprisingly we initially greeted the invitation to produce a "new" Interrelationships with some trepidation. However, after a generally enthusiastic and encouraging response from our colleagues when we mooted the idea, we soon became convinced that the time was right for a reappraisal of the "state of the art" of fish systematics.

The first Interrelationships, published almost a quarter of a century ago, was one of the most influential books in the modern literature of ichthyology. Looking back, it now seems clear that its profound influence was due in large part to the volume's essentially phylogenetic orientation. With that methodological framework, the first Interrelationships provided the community with the outlines of a model for more rigorous study of the relationships of fishes, and as a result played a pivotal role in ushering-in the "modern age" of systematic ichthyology. As Humphry Greenwood, Roger Miles, and Colin Patterson noted in their preface, "Readers of the volume may be struck by similarities in the way that most of the contributors have approached the problem of investigating and describing relationships. These methods, more precise and explicit than those traditionally used, are due to the influence of Hennig, not to editorial pressure" (1973, ix). The "influence of Hennig" and the many refinements of phylogenetic methodology and techniques of data analysis continue to invigorate the science of systematics, and in ichthyology, as in other disciplines, the result is an active, ongoing process of evaluation and reestimation of historical relationships.

Since the publication of the first Interrelationships in 1973, there have been many revisions and reappraisals, and in some ways the present volume is a summary of where these new inquiries have taken us. The first volume had as its original objective "a survey of the relationships between and within all the major groups of gnathostome fishes, living and extinct" (1973, IX). With this new volume our aim has been, as far as possible, to present a broad coverage of the phylogenetic systematics of fishes that updates the 1973 volume as well as complements subsequent publications. Since 1973 a number of influential volumes have been published on the systematics and biology of higher fish taxa or pivotal groups, such as lungfishes (Bemis et al., 1987), coelacanths (McCosker and Lagios, 1979; Musick et al., 1991), placoderms (Denison, 1978), acanthodians (Denison, 1979), chondrichthyians (Cappetta, 1987), gadiforms (Cohen, 1989), and assorted percomorphs and their allies (Johnson and Anderson, 1993). Another compendium of note in this context is the so-called "Ahlstrom Symposium" (Moser et al., 1984), which approached the question of teleostean interrelationships from an explicitly ontogenetic perspective. Most recently, three volumes concerned primarily with early vertebrate systematics and evolution have appeared (Chang et al., 1991; Arsenault et al., 1995; Lelièvre et al., 1995). It is worthy of note that the phylogenetic analyses in the current volume, as with most of these others cited, utilize characters principally of the skeleton and soft anatomy of fishes. This strongly morphological emphasis reflects our view that these systems contain a vast reservoir of untapped information for phylogenetic systematics and, it is hoped, serves also to underline the enduring role of morphological data in contemporary systematic studies. Given our explicitly morphological orientation, we believe that this new volume also nicely complements the upcoming volume on the molecular systematics of teleost fishes (Kocher and Stepien, submitted for publication).

In October 1993, at the age of 60, Colin Patterson officially retired from the Natural History Museum, London, where he continues his research with undiminished fervor and productivity. It is with much satisfaction that we mark that milestone by dedicating this volume to him in celebration of his remarkable and enduring influence on the field of fish systematics. One can only imagine what the state of the art in this field would be today had it been denied the intellect and published works of Colin Patterson. Clearly, it would have been profoundly different, and our knowledge of the anatomy and history of fishes would be considerably less advanced. Like few before him, he has bridged the gap between paleontology and neontology, and in recent years has done the same with morphology and molecules. While Colin has always remained at the forefront of systematic theory and methodology, he is first and foremost a consummate comparative morphologist who retains a deep and abiding interest in, and respect for, the primary data of our discipline. The search for pattern in the anatomy of fishes remains the driving passion in his work, and it is this descriptive aspect that he believes will be his greatest legacy—as he has often been heard to say: ". . . get the anatomy wrong and the rest is meaningless." Regardless of current fashion in theory or level of analytical sophistication, to know that the anatomy was done properly, with care, accuracy, and critical insight, is to know that it will last and be relied upon by generations to come.

While there can be no doubt that the computational and analytical advances of recent years have brought a new rigor to systematics, they have sometimes also been accompanied by a misplaced notion of "objectivity" that manifests as a shift from knowledge of organisms and their characters to a preoccupation with the intricacies of computer-generated analysis. Two, often conflated, trends are evident—in one, the computational analysis is a block box "into which data are fed and out of which 'The Tree' springs"; in the other, the elaboration and sophistication of analysis are somehow seen to substitute for a solidly worked and comprehensive character base. Both are misguided. It is ironic that a result that may be both computationally accurate and robust may not necessarily approximate the underlying phylogeny. Ultimately, the results of any analysis are as meaningful, or as meaningless, as the data on which they are based. We believe that it is imperative that we do not lose sight of our organisms, and while, of course, solid and well-conceived analyses are essential, the enduring core of our contribution will ultimately be judged by the richness of our observations.

We are grateful to the following individuals who reviewed one or more chapters prior to publication: Marc Allard, Carole C. Baldwin, Robert L. Boord, Marcelo R. de Carvalho, Mario C. C. de Pinna, Dominique Didier, William L. Fink, Brian G. Gardiner, Anthony C. Gill, Lance Grande, P. Humphry Greenwood, Robert K. Johnson, Tom Kocher, Nathan R. Lovejoy, John G. Maisey, Richard L. Mayden, Amy R. McCune, John D. McEachran, John Morrissey, Randall D. Mooi, Jon A. Moore, Gavin Naylor, Colin Patterson, John R. Paxton, Hans-Peter Schultze, David G. Smith, Victor G. Springer, Richard P. Vari, Ed O. Wiley, and Richard Winterbottom.

For their help with proofreading and numerous other tasks we are particularly grateful to Lita Elvers, Monica Toledo-Piza, Marcelo de Carvalho, and Carole C. Baldwin. Our thanks also to Joseph S. Nelson and Mark V. H. Wilson, who graciously hosted the 75th annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists where a number of contributors to this volume presented their preliminary findings in a symposium on the Interrelationships of Fishes. Our editor, Charles R. Crumly, at Academic Press initiated this project and we are grateful to him for entrusting to us the task of bringing it to fruition. And last, but by no means least, our thanks to all of the contributors to this volume—it has been something of a "long haul" to get here and the perseverance and patience of all concerned are much appreciated.