An understanding of the morphology and evolution of the first vertebrates is intrinsic to any serious study of comparative anatomy and vertebrate evolution. This book looks at the radiation of the first fishes, the earliest of all backboned animals, providing detailed descriptions of the morphology of each of the early groups of fishes, from primitive jawless craniates 450 million years old to the piscine ancestors of the first land animals, the tetrapods.
Contents: Introduction. Agnatha 1. Agnatha 2. Chondrichthyes. Placodermi. Acanthodii. Osteichtheys 1: Actinopterygii. Osteichtheys 2: Dipnoi. Osteichtheys 3: Crossopterygii. Biostratigraphic uses of Paleozoic fishes. Palaeozoic fish biogeography.