Armored fishes and monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe air--these and many other strange creatures are part of the remarkable story told in this book. In The Rise of Fishes, John Long traces the evolutionary history of fishes over the course of 500 million years, describes the discovery of extraordinary fossil remains, and explains the techniques used in their interpretation. Featuring more than 300 color illustrations, the book includes photographs of fossils from around the world as well as the author's dramatic color illustrations of what the fish may have actually looked like. Long tells the story of how these creatures lived and developed and why their rise from the waters of the archaic seas and rivers onto land was so momentous an event in the evolution of life on earth. He combines current scientific information with entertaining stories about his own field work in Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Antarctica. Detailed, accessible, and lavishly illustrated, The Rise of Fishes is a book for anyone with an interest in evolution, fossils, or fish. "A great deal of background information and, above all, hundreds of superb photographs and drawings. One could almost take this for a coffee-table book at first glance, so profusely and well is it illustrated... This book is not just a scientific and educational tool; it is also a visual celebration of the glories of biological diversity as seen in the fossil record. It will come as a surprise to many who have not realized how far the paleontology of early vertebrates has progressed or experienced the depth of evolutionary information available from fossils. And, best of all, there is clearly more to come." -- Nature "[Long] enlivens his account with tales from his extensive field work... Exceptionally lucid and comprehensively illustrated." -- New Scientist "Scholarly, but very readable." -- D. Moskowitz, Northeastern Naturalist Armored fishes and monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe--these and many other strange creatures are part of the remarkable story told in The Rise of Fishes. Featuring more than 300 color illustrations, the book includes photographs of fossils from around the world as well as the author's dramatic color illustrations of what the fish may actually have looked like. John A. Long is curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. An established authority in palaeontology and ichthyology, he is the editor of Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biostratigraphy and Biogeography, which is also available from Johns Hopkins. Used Book in Good Condition