Evolutionary Biology of Primitive Fishes

Foreman, R.E.;Dodd, J.M.;Gorbman, A

ISBN 10: 0306422247 / ISBN 13: 9780306422249

Published by Plenum Press, 1985

About this Item

Plenum Press Pub Corp, 1985. Hardcover. Condition: AS NEW No Jacket. 1st Edition. Proceedings of a NATO Advanced research Workshop on Evolutionary Biology of Primitive Fishes, held in Bamfield BC 1985. Seller Inventory # 1X018.

Seller Inventory # 000498

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Evolutionary Biology of Primitive Fishes
• Publisher: Plenum Press
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306422247
• ISBN 13: 9780306422249
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fishing
  • Non Fiction: General

About this title

Synopsis

What, precisely, is a primitive fish? Most biologists would agree that the living cyclostomes, selachians, crossopterygians, etc. cannot be considered truly primitive. However, they and the fossil record have served to provide the information which forms the basis for speculation concerning the nature of the original vertebrates. This symposium of biologists from a variety of disciplines was called together to create collectively, from the best available current evidence, a picture of the probable line of evolution of the prototype primitive fishes. The symposium was designed to follow one that took place in Stockholm in 1967, convened for a similar purpose, with about the same number of participants. It is a matter of interest that almost the entire 1967 symposium (Nobel Symposium 4) dealt only with the hard tissues, whether fossil or modern. In charting the course of the present symposium it was felt that the intervening years have produced numerous lines of new evidence that could be employed in the same way that a navigator determines his position. Each field, be it adult morphology, geology, ecology, biochemistry, development or physiology, generates evidence that can be extrapolated backward from existing vertebrate forms and forward from invertebrate forms. If the intersect of only two lines of evidence produces a navigational "fix" of rather low reliability, then an intersect, however unfocussed, of multiple guidelines from more numerous disciplines might provide a better position from which to judge early vertebrate history.