Waubonsee Community College

Aquagenesis, the origin and evolution of life in the sea, Richard Ellis ; with illustrations by the author

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-292)

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Aquagenesis

bibliography

47705840

Richard Ellis ; with illustrations by the author

the origin and evolution of life in the sea

Life on earth began in the sea, and in this natural history, authority on marine biology and illustrator Richard Ellis chronicles more than three billion years of aquatic history. From the first microbes and jawless fishes that evolved into the myriad species we know today--sharks, whales, dolphins, and, of course, humans--Ellis reveals the deep evolutionary mysteries of the sea.--Publisher

Early days: The origin of life in the vents ; Water, water everywhere ; Here we come, ready or not--. -- From fossil to squid: The garden of the Ediacara ; Wonders of the Burgess Shale ; The Cambrian explosion ; What happened to the trilobites? ; "Living fossils" ; Here come the mollusks ; Brachiopods ; Cephalopods. -- The vertebrates: What did it mean to have a backbone? ; The jawless fishes ; The lungfishes ; The coelacanths ; Pisces triumphant ; The evolution of bioluminescence ; Sharks, etc. ; Land ho! -- Return to the sea: Marine reptiles ; Encased in armor plate ; The sea snakes ; The crocodilians ; Birds that swim. -- Marine mammals: The sea cows ; The sea weasels ; Flippers for feet ; The desmostylians ; The cetaceans ; The living whales. -- Everybody back into the water: The aquatic ape ; The end of the beginning