The Rise of Fishes

Part 1 Enigmatic fossils - heads or tails?: the origins of fishes; tunicates (urochordates); lancelets (cephalochordates); the conodonts - enigmatic fossils; the mitrates - strange allies of the vertebrates?; bone - its early beginnings; gills. Part 2 Jawless wonders - the first fishes: the agnatha; the oldest fishes - ordovician agnathans; the heterostraci - a great radiation; anaspida - forerunners of lampreys; thelodonti - the scales tell the tales; the gelaspida - mysterious oriental agnathans; pituriaspida - a newly discovered class of vertebrates; osteostracans - the pinnacle of jawless achievement; the end of the jawless empire; links to the first jawed fishes; basic structure of primitive agnathans; fish teeth. Part 3 Sharks and their kin - killers from way back: class chondrichthyes; the origin of sharks; the late palaeozoic chondrichthyan radiation; humble beginnings of modern chondrichthyan faunas; holocephalans - an early radiation; the rays shine through; basic structure of primitive chondrichthyans. Part 4 Extinct spiny fins - the acanthodii: the origins and affinities of acanthodians; the climatiiformes - armoured and adorned acanthodians; the ischnacanthiformes - the predators; acanthodiformes - filter-feeders and survivors; basic structure of an acanthodian. Part 5 Armoured fishes and fishes with arms: class placodermi; placoderm origins and relationships; the stensioellida and the pseudo-petalichthyida - early enigmatics; the rhenanida and the acanthothoraci - elaborately armoured ones; the ptyctodontida - crushing teeth and spiky clasper; the petalichthyida and their odd relatives; the flat and fearsome phyllolepida; the arthrodira - the great placoderm success story; the antiarchi - always at arms length; basic structure of placoderm; gogo fishes and the acid preparation technique; reproduction and the origins of vertebrate sex. Part 6 True bony fishes and their origins: class osteichthyes; lophosteiforms - enigmatic ancestors of bony fishes; the oldest true osteichthyans; basic structure of an osteichthyan. Part 7 Ray-finned fishes - a winning formula: the actino-pterygii; Devonian ray-finned fishes; the rise of the primitive ray-fins; neopterygii - the dawning of success; teleosteans - their early beginnings; basic structure of a primitive ray-finned fish; fishes and dinosaurs - life in a mesozoic ecosystem. Part 8 Lungfishes - fishes that breathe: the dipnoi; lungfish origins; dipnoan diversity - the denticle shedders; dentine-covered palates - the early crushers; refined feeding mechanisms; basic structure of primitive dipnoan; the origin of lungs. Part 9 Big teeth - strong fins: class osteichthyes, subclass crossopterygii; primitive crossopterygians; the coelacanths (actinistia); the extinct porolepiformes; the dagger-toothed fishes (onychodontiformes); giant killers of the carboniferous - rhizodontiforms; fishes leading to land animals - osteolepiformes. (Part contents).