Cladistics: a fishy recommendation

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

Hi again,

In my copious free time (hahahahahahahahahahahahhah....  er...) I've finally
managed to read the copy of AMNH John Maisey's _Discovering Fossil Fishes_
(1996, Henry Holt Press) which I picked up for $5.99 in the bargain bin at
Borders.  A really good read, and a good look at cladistics from a different
part of the tree.

I highly recommend it: fish (non-tetrapod craniates) get short shrift in
most vert paleo books, and actinopterygians (ray-fins) especially so.  This
is a shame, because this is a MAJOR part of the vertebrate radiation.  Nice
combinations of photos of actual specimens coupled with life restorations.
Occasionally tetrapods make an appearance (pterosaurs flying overhead in the
Niobrara and Santana seas, for example).

Maisey works in recent discoveries of Hox genes in craniate origins, aspects
of functional morphology, the luck-of-the-draw aspect of preservation, and
so forth.

Fossil fish: it's not just _Cephalaspis_-_Dinichtys_-_Eusthenopteron_ anymore...

                        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Vertebrate Paleontologist
Deptartment of Geology                  Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland                  College Park Scholars
College Park, MD  20742       
Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu        Phone:301-405-4084
Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu               Fax:  301-314-9661