Phylogeny, Anatomy and Physiology of Ancient Fishes on ancient fishes unites the work of many specialists coming from different areas of biology. Hagfishes, lungfishes, Chondrosteans, and Holosteans constitute the main subject of study. Fossil records and extant species are compared to establish the conservation or the degeneration of specific characters. However, phylogenetic relationships have mostly been revisited in the light of new molecular and developmental data. The morphology of several organs is also revisited.
Phylogeny, Anatomy and Physiology of Ancient Fishes includes a phylogenetic account of the cardiac outflow tract, and the particulars of the heart and circulation in lungfishes. The control of breathing and the lung-swim bladder issue is discussed. The developmental anatomy of the sturgeon gut and accounts of the gut structure in lungfishes and garfishes are also included. Biochemical and physiological aspects of the behavior of lungfishes and gars are presented. Reports on the fish olfactory system, and on the amazing slime glands of hagfishes, are also covered.
Preface; The editors
- Phylogenetic introduction; Hans-Peter Schultze
- The occurrence and function of the NOS/NO system in the heart of the eel and the African lungfish; Daniela Amelio, Filippo Garofalo, Sandra Imbrogno, Bruno Tota
- Evolutionary aspects on the comparative biology of lungfishes: emphasis on South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa; Vera M. Fonseca de Almeida-Val, Luciana Lopes Fé, Derek F. de Campos
- Developmental metabolism of the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri; Casey Mueller
- Aestivation in African lungfishes: Physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology; Shit F. Chew, Biyun Ching, You R. Chang, Jasmine L.Y. Ong, Kum C. Hiong, Xiu L. Chen, Yuen K. Ip
- Anatomy of the heart and circulation in lungfishes; José M. Icardo, Bruno Tota, Yuen K. Ip
- The cardiac outflow tract of primitive fishes; Adrian C. Grimes
- Control of breathing in primitive fishes; Michael Hedrick, Stephen L. Katz
- The lung-swimbladder issue and the complex hierarchical nature of homology: A simple case of homology - Or not?; Markus Lambertz, Steven F. Perry
- The gut and associated organs in the African lungfish Protopterus annectens; José M. Icardo
- Morphology, histology and functional structure of the alimentary canal of sturgeon; Ramón Carmona, Cristina E. Trenzado, Ana Sanz
- The structural organization in the olfactory system of the teleosts and garfishes; Michal Kuciel, Krystyna Zuwala, Eugenia R. Lauriano, Leszek Satora, Giacomo Zaccone
- Hagfish slime and slime glands; Douglas Fudge, Timothy Winegard, Julia E. Herr