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A Sea without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati Region
The region around Cincinnati, Ohio, is known throughout the world for the abundant and beautiful fossils found in limestones and shales that were deposited as sediments on the sea floor during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago―some 250 million years before the dinosaurs lived. In Ordovician time, the shallow sea that covered much of what is now the North American continent teemed with marine life. The Cincinnati area has yielded some of the world's most abundant and best-preserved fossils of invertebrate animals such as trilobites, bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and graptolites. So famous are the Ordovician fossils and rocks of the Cincinnati region that geologists use the term "Cincinnatian" for strata of the same age all over North America. This book synthesizes more than 150 years of research on this fossil treasure-trove, describing and illustrating the fossils, the life habits of the animals represented, their communities, and living relatives, as well as the nature of the rock strata in which they are found and the environmental conditions of the ancient sea.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 11, 2023
Thorough, accessible, well-researched, and amply illustrated book that has one foot in the popular science category and one foot in the academic work category. Though a few sections could get a little technical and dry, for the most part the book is written for the enthusiastic amateur and doesn’t assume much prior knowledge of the subject, that subject being the fossils of the Cincinnatian, a Late Ordovician Epoch in North America, stretching from Kentucky through Ohio into Indiana and as far south as extreme northern Alabama, roughly 450 million years ago. Back then, the region was a shallow sea filled with all manner of marine life, with the book covering the geology and paleontology of the region today, the history of the study of the area, what the area was like in terms of geology and climate back in the Ordovician, how we know this, and the star of the book, multiple amply illustrated chapters of the marine fossils known from the Cincinnatian, truly a “sea without fish,” as while very early fish are known from elsewhere in the world at this time, after well over a century and a half of collecting and study, none are known from this formation. As the book shows, though the sea lacked fish, it still had abundant life.
Chapter 1, “Introduction,” introduces the reader to the area as a whole, talks about the Ordovician, the paleogeography of the area, the types of rocks found in the region and how they are formed, the particulars of fossil formation (it was interesting to read about the differences in fossilization between shells made of calcium carbonate and those made of aragonite), and the particulars of the formation itself (the Cincinnati Arch).
Chapter 2, “Science in the Hinterland: The Cincinnati School of Paleontology,” discusses the history of the study of the Cincinnatian, particularly around Cincinnati itself. Not an actual school per se, the Cincinnati School of Paleontology was a group of amateur paleontologists (or who began as amateurs) and who collected and studied fossils from the region and were active from pretty much the end of the Civil War through the early years of the 20th century. This chapter was essentially a series of mini biographies (accompanied by many photographs) of the various members of the school, people who often not only made important contributions to the study of the region but often made lasting contributions to paleontology and geology as a whole.
Chapter 3, “Naming and Classifying Organisms,” is an introduction to taxonomy and scientific names. Many might find the section covering things they already know well, but it does serve to help make the book accessible to more people.
Chapter 4, “Rocks, Fossils, and Time,” introduces the reader to geologic time units, talks about establishing the relative age of rocks, the absolute age of rocks, subdividing rocks based on their fossil content, the various subdivisions of the Cincinnatian Series, the study of the different cycles of deposition and what they represent (could get a little technical but the section is accompanied by a number of diagrams and illustrations), and what the fossils show about ecological succession (a topic touched on later several times, of how organisms colonize an area, perhaps swept clean by a storm, then gradually become a mature community based on the types, numbers, and size of the marine organisms present). This latter bit was one of my favorite parts of the book, a topic revisited several times in later chapters, showing how by studying the species and types of fossils and the structures present in them, such as thickness and shape, researchers can construct the paleomarine environment to a degree that surprised me, making statements about depth, wave action, exposure to tides, whether the area was near a river delta or not, the slope of the seafloor at the time, and the type of surface of the seafloor while the organisms were alive.
Chapters 5 through 14 are the heart of the book, chapters devoted to the plant fossils, animal fossils, and trace fossil of the Cincinnatian (trace fossils are things like burrows and trackways left by organisms). Chapter 5 is on algae, arguably the basis of the entire food chain, with the chapter discussing algae fossils, the role of algae in the ecosystem, and what the looked like (it was interesting to read that stromatolites, so characteristic of the Precambrian, are “virtually absent from Cincinnatian strata”).
Chapter 6 is “Poriferans and Cnidarians: Sponges, Corals, and Jellyfish.” Highlights include reading about stromatoporoids, a group that was not only classified as among other things bryozoans and protozoans before being classified as a sponge, were thought extinct in Cretaceous till living ones were found, and were major reef builders later on in the Silurian and Devonian along with corals. Also prominent are a discussion of solitary corals or horn corals, so called because of their conical or cylindrical shape (in the order Rugosa and also called rugose corals) and a group of colonial corals belonging to the coral group Tabulata, called honey-comb corals because of their polygonal, honeycomb shape (both groups first appeared in the Ordovician and became extinct at the end of the Permian.
Chapter 7, “Bryozoans: “Twigs” and “Bones,” is on bryozoans, which are the most common fossils of the Cincinnatian, often looking like to the casual observer to be collections or piles of small stone twigs or bones. Colonial organisms superficially similar to corals though not at all closely related, they have for decades been called bryozoans and though the name lives on (the phylum Bryozoan was abandoned as a classification after it was found that it “lumped together animals that are not-at-all closely related), they should perhaps more properly be called ectoprocts, though the authors note that the term bryozoan is still in wide use and they will follow that “hoary tradition.” The chapter does an excellent job with photographs and diagrams explain what bryozoans are and why they are so important to understanding the ecology of the Cincinnatian.
Chapter 8, “Brachiopods: The Other Bivalves,” is on the second most common fossil of the Cincinnatian, with along with bryozoans making up 60% of the fossils found. Brachiopods (members of phylum Brachiopoda) superficially resemble bivalved mollusks like clams (class Pelecypoda), but are only distantly related and vaguely similar, differing in among ways such as where the plane of symmetry lies (unlike with pelecypods, the two halves of a brachiopod shell are not mirror images of each other, with the plane of symmetry right down the middle of each valve). The chapter goes into life habits, the two main groups, called the inarticulates and the articulates, and how brachiopods reveal basic aspects of life on the Ordovician sea floor, particularly when they formed very dense beds called shell pavements.
Chapter 9 is on mollusks, including gastropods (snails, very common fossils of organisms that likely played an important ecological role, but often overlooked as they are generally only preserved as internal molds), pelecypods (the bivalves, more poorly preserved than brachiopods and like gastropods often only occur as molds), and cephalopods (the “nautiloids,” like bryozoans another name that lives on in usage despite not being technically accurate; another common fossil group, most often as internal molds as like with other mollusks the shell material rarely preserved, and were basically shelled creatures related to today’s squid and were “undoubtedly” the top predators of the Cincinnatian).
Chapter 10, “Annelids and worm-like fossils,” is a relatively short chapter on worms, including fossils like Cornulites, which are “of uncertain zoological position but with possible worm affinities.”
Chapter 11 is on arthropods, primarily the famous trilobites, “arguably the best known for their preservation and abundance” in the Cincinnatian. There are sixteen genera of trilobites known from the Cincinnatian, though only a few are common, with the genera Flexicalymene and Isotelus the most common and widely distributed. The chapter goes into a great deal of detail on trilobites with some excellent photographs and diagrams, going into conjecture about the life habits of trilobites found in the formation, notably Flexicalymene (one of the world’s best known trilobites, largely because of their abundance in the Cincinnatian strata) and Isotelus (among the largest known trilobites, apparently reaching lengths of 80-90 cm). Also covered are the eurypterids or sea scorpions, with eurypterid Megalograptus one of the oldest and most unusual of the group (though overall these are very rare fossils as their chitinous remains are unlikely to be preserved).
Chapter 12, “Echinoderms: A World Unto Themselves” was a lengthy, well-written, well-illustrated, and fascinating chapter, covering a group of fossils that are among the rarest and most sought after. Seven classes of echinoderms are found in the Cincinnatian strata, including crinoids (or sea lilies, which are elevated by a stem and attached to the sea floor, with crinoidal columns among the most commonly encountered fossils of the Cincinnatian; this is a lengthy subchapter and goes a great deal in the ecology and life history of crinoids as well as their role in the ecosystem), rhombiferans (stalked echinoderms that appeared in the Early Ordovician and became extinct by the Late Devonian, superficially similar to crinoids), edrioasteroids (second in frequency after the crinoids, resembled “a sea star with a ring around it,” and became extinct in the Permian), asteroids (sea stars, “exceptionally rare fossils in the Cincinnatian”), ophiuroids (brittle stars, also very rare), cyclocystoids (“rarest and most enigmatic of Cincinnatian echinoderms” and superficially similar to edrioasteroids, extinct by the Early Carboniferous), and stylophorans (bizarre fossils echinoderms, possibly vertebrate ancestors, once with as many as 80 genera but extinct by the Early Pennsylvanian).
Chapter 13, “Graptolites and Conodonts: Our Closest Relatives?” covers graptolites, a common fossil that is often preserved in a flattened condition and look like black pencil-like markings with a saw-toothed margin and were colonial organisms (either free-floating plankton, order Graptoloidea, or branching, sea floor dwelling colonies, order Dendroidea), and conodonts (enigmatic microfossils that are tooth-like and around 1 mm, the identity of the organism “among the greatest mysteries of paleontology”).
Chapter 14 is on trace fossils, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and fossil feces (coprolites) all ichnofossils and part of ichnology. A fascinating chapter both because of the mystery of the creator of many of these trace fossils and for what they reveal about the life habits of long extinct organisms.
Chapter 15 is on the paleogeography and paleoenvironment of the Cincinnatian, the chapter describing how the “Persian Gulf is perhaps the most similar to the Late Ordovician of the eastern United States in terms of its climate, the size of the sedimentary basin, the gently dipping sea floor, the mix of carbonate sediment and clay, and the occurrence of storms that rework and deposit sediment,” The chapters goes into how we know this, what the paleoenvironment was like, and how it differed from the modern Persian Gulf as well as describing the various environments, notably the tidal flat environment, shallow subtidal environment, deep subtidal, and offshore environments, including what conditions were like, what organisms lived there, and what effects this had on fossil preservation.
Chapter 16, “Life in the Cincinnatian Sea,” looks at the overall ecology of the epoch, including predator-prey relationships and had an interesting discussion comparing the Cincinnatian sea to modern oceans, noting due to such things as a relative lack of diversity in phytoplankton and with the near complete lack of land plants and thus vastly reduced amounts of organic matter and nutrients being carried into the sea by rivers, the Cincinnatian may have been relatively poor in food resources.
The epilogue is written more like fiction, describing an imaginary dive by the authors into the Cincinnatian world, describing the different types of environments and the organisms they could have conceivably encountered. I am glad the difference in the Ordovician atmosphere was noted, as while today 21% of the atmosphere is oxygen, as little as 1% of the atmosphere at the time was oxygen.
Following the epilogue is a an appendix of resources, an appendix of individuals and associations associated with the Cincinnatian, an extensive glossary, an extensive works cited section, and a lengthy index. The book has black and white illustrations and photos throughout and a section of color plates.
Chapter 1, “Introduction,” introduces the reader to the area as a whole, talks about the Ordovician, the paleogeography of the area, the types of rocks found in the region and how they are formed, the particulars of fossil formation (it was interesting to read about the differences in fossilization between shells made of calcium carbonate and those made of aragonite), and the particulars of the formation itself (the Cincinnati Arch).
Chapter 2, “Science in the Hinterland: The Cincinnati School of Paleontology,” discusses the history of the study of the Cincinnatian, particularly around Cincinnati itself. Not an actual school per se, the Cincinnati School of Paleontology was a group of amateur paleontologists (or who began as amateurs) and who collected and studied fossils from the region and were active from pretty much the end of the Civil War through the early years of the 20th century. This chapter was essentially a series of mini biographies (accompanied by many photographs) of the various members of the school, people who often not only made important contributions to the study of the region but often made lasting contributions to paleontology and geology as a whole.
Chapter 3, “Naming and Classifying Organisms,” is an introduction to taxonomy and scientific names. Many might find the section covering things they already know well, but it does serve to help make the book accessible to more people.
Chapter 4, “Rocks, Fossils, and Time,” introduces the reader to geologic time units, talks about establishing the relative age of rocks, the absolute age of rocks, subdividing rocks based on their fossil content, the various subdivisions of the Cincinnatian Series, the study of the different cycles of deposition and what they represent (could get a little technical but the section is accompanied by a number of diagrams and illustrations), and what the fossils show about ecological succession (a topic touched on later several times, of how organisms colonize an area, perhaps swept clean by a storm, then gradually become a mature community based on the types, numbers, and size of the marine organisms present). This latter bit was one of my favorite parts of the book, a topic revisited several times in later chapters, showing how by studying the species and types of fossils and the structures present in them, such as thickness and shape, researchers can construct the paleomarine environment to a degree that surprised me, making statements about depth, wave action, exposure to tides, whether the area was near a river delta or not, the slope of the seafloor at the time, and the type of surface of the seafloor while the organisms were alive.
Chapters 5 through 14 are the heart of the book, chapters devoted to the plant fossils, animal fossils, and trace fossil of the Cincinnatian (trace fossils are things like burrows and trackways left by organisms). Chapter 5 is on algae, arguably the basis of the entire food chain, with the chapter discussing algae fossils, the role of algae in the ecosystem, and what the looked like (it was interesting to read that stromatolites, so characteristic of the Precambrian, are “virtually absent from Cincinnatian strata”).
Chapter 6 is “Poriferans and Cnidarians: Sponges, Corals, and Jellyfish.” Highlights include reading about stromatoporoids, a group that was not only classified as among other things bryozoans and protozoans before being classified as a sponge, were thought extinct in Cretaceous till living ones were found, and were major reef builders later on in the Silurian and Devonian along with corals. Also prominent are a discussion of solitary corals or horn corals, so called because of their conical or cylindrical shape (in the order Rugosa and also called rugose corals) and a group of colonial corals belonging to the coral group Tabulata, called honey-comb corals because of their polygonal, honeycomb shape (both groups first appeared in the Ordovician and became extinct at the end of the Permian.
Chapter 7, “Bryozoans: “Twigs” and “Bones,” is on bryozoans, which are the most common fossils of the Cincinnatian, often looking like to the casual observer to be collections or piles of small stone twigs or bones. Colonial organisms superficially similar to corals though not at all closely related, they have for decades been called bryozoans and though the name lives on (the phylum Bryozoan was abandoned as a classification after it was found that it “lumped together animals that are not-at-all closely related), they should perhaps more properly be called ectoprocts, though the authors note that the term bryozoan is still in wide use and they will follow that “hoary tradition.” The chapter does an excellent job with photographs and diagrams explain what bryozoans are and why they are so important to understanding the ecology of the Cincinnatian.
Chapter 8, “Brachiopods: The Other Bivalves,” is on the second most common fossil of the Cincinnatian, with along with bryozoans making up 60% of the fossils found. Brachiopods (members of phylum Brachiopoda) superficially resemble bivalved mollusks like clams (class Pelecypoda), but are only distantly related and vaguely similar, differing in among ways such as where the plane of symmetry lies (unlike with pelecypods, the two halves of a brachiopod shell are not mirror images of each other, with the plane of symmetry right down the middle of each valve). The chapter goes into life habits, the two main groups, called the inarticulates and the articulates, and how brachiopods reveal basic aspects of life on the Ordovician sea floor, particularly when they formed very dense beds called shell pavements.
Chapter 9 is on mollusks, including gastropods (snails, very common fossils of organisms that likely played an important ecological role, but often overlooked as they are generally only preserved as internal molds), pelecypods (the bivalves, more poorly preserved than brachiopods and like gastropods often only occur as molds), and cephalopods (the “nautiloids,” like bryozoans another name that lives on in usage despite not being technically accurate; another common fossil group, most often as internal molds as like with other mollusks the shell material rarely preserved, and were basically shelled creatures related to today’s squid and were “undoubtedly” the top predators of the Cincinnatian).
Chapter 10, “Annelids and worm-like fossils,” is a relatively short chapter on worms, including fossils like Cornulites, which are “of uncertain zoological position but with possible worm affinities.”
Chapter 11 is on arthropods, primarily the famous trilobites, “arguably the best known for their preservation and abundance” in the Cincinnatian. There are sixteen genera of trilobites known from the Cincinnatian, though only a few are common, with the genera Flexicalymene and Isotelus the most common and widely distributed. The chapter goes into a great deal of detail on trilobites with some excellent photographs and diagrams, going into conjecture about the life habits of trilobites found in the formation, notably Flexicalymene (one of the world’s best known trilobites, largely because of their abundance in the Cincinnatian strata) and Isotelus (among the largest known trilobites, apparently reaching lengths of 80-90 cm). Also covered are the eurypterids or sea scorpions, with eurypterid Megalograptus one of the oldest and most unusual of the group (though overall these are very rare fossils as their chitinous remains are unlikely to be preserved).
Chapter 12, “Echinoderms: A World Unto Themselves” was a lengthy, well-written, well-illustrated, and fascinating chapter, covering a group of fossils that are among the rarest and most sought after. Seven classes of echinoderms are found in the Cincinnatian strata, including crinoids (or sea lilies, which are elevated by a stem and attached to the sea floor, with crinoidal columns among the most commonly encountered fossils of the Cincinnatian; this is a lengthy subchapter and goes a great deal in the ecology and life history of crinoids as well as their role in the ecosystem), rhombiferans (stalked echinoderms that appeared in the Early Ordovician and became extinct by the Late Devonian, superficially similar to crinoids), edrioasteroids (second in frequency after the crinoids, resembled “a sea star with a ring around it,” and became extinct in the Permian), asteroids (sea stars, “exceptionally rare fossils in the Cincinnatian”), ophiuroids (brittle stars, also very rare), cyclocystoids (“rarest and most enigmatic of Cincinnatian echinoderms” and superficially similar to edrioasteroids, extinct by the Early Carboniferous), and stylophorans (bizarre fossils echinoderms, possibly vertebrate ancestors, once with as many as 80 genera but extinct by the Early Pennsylvanian).
Chapter 13, “Graptolites and Conodonts: Our Closest Relatives?” covers graptolites, a common fossil that is often preserved in a flattened condition and look like black pencil-like markings with a saw-toothed margin and were colonial organisms (either free-floating plankton, order Graptoloidea, or branching, sea floor dwelling colonies, order Dendroidea), and conodonts (enigmatic microfossils that are tooth-like and around 1 mm, the identity of the organism “among the greatest mysteries of paleontology”).
Chapter 14 is on trace fossils, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and fossil feces (coprolites) all ichnofossils and part of ichnology. A fascinating chapter both because of the mystery of the creator of many of these trace fossils and for what they reveal about the life habits of long extinct organisms.
Chapter 15 is on the paleogeography and paleoenvironment of the Cincinnatian, the chapter describing how the “Persian Gulf is perhaps the most similar to the Late Ordovician of the eastern United States in terms of its climate, the size of the sedimentary basin, the gently dipping sea floor, the mix of carbonate sediment and clay, and the occurrence of storms that rework and deposit sediment,” The chapters goes into how we know this, what the paleoenvironment was like, and how it differed from the modern Persian Gulf as well as describing the various environments, notably the tidal flat environment, shallow subtidal environment, deep subtidal, and offshore environments, including what conditions were like, what organisms lived there, and what effects this had on fossil preservation.
Chapter 16, “Life in the Cincinnatian Sea,” looks at the overall ecology of the epoch, including predator-prey relationships and had an interesting discussion comparing the Cincinnatian sea to modern oceans, noting due to such things as a relative lack of diversity in phytoplankton and with the near complete lack of land plants and thus vastly reduced amounts of organic matter and nutrients being carried into the sea by rivers, the Cincinnatian may have been relatively poor in food resources.
The epilogue is written more like fiction, describing an imaginary dive by the authors into the Cincinnatian world, describing the different types of environments and the organisms they could have conceivably encountered. I am glad the difference in the Ordovician atmosphere was noted, as while today 21% of the atmosphere is oxygen, as little as 1% of the atmosphere at the time was oxygen.
Following the epilogue is a an appendix of resources, an appendix of individuals and associations associated with the Cincinnatian, an extensive glossary, an extensive works cited section, and a lengthy index. The book has black and white illustrations and photos throughout and a section of color plates.
April 13, 2019
A fascinating read of you're interested in paleontology and geology in Ohio.
June 27, 2024
An awful lot of background. For actual fossils, start at chapter six.
The book seems to be aimed at amateur fossil hunters.
The book seems to be aimed at amateur fossil hunters.
August 16, 2009
The Ordovician was approxametely 450 million years ago. The area around Cincinnati was at that time a shallow sea and the North American continent was south of the equator. The apex creature in the sea was a nautiloid like creature as pictured. There were however fish. These are evidenced by the conodont fossils. These are little eruptions of teeth-like pieces of calcium from the mouths of tiny eel creatures. They were tiny, only about 4 mm long, less than 1/2 an inch. The nautiloids probably thought they were pretty good, but they are our closest ancestor. I wonder of they dreamed of music.
December 27, 2021
This book is a densely informative, scrupulously source-cited accounting of one of the most unique geological formations in the world. Surprising of course, in that Cincinnati, Ohio hardly evokes the same kind of image as the Grand Canyon, Swiss Alps, or East African Rift Valley sort of geological wonders. And yet for all its subtlety, the geologically stable conditions that prevailed in the area that would become southern Ohio and northern Kentucky produced a fascinating time capsule of the world as it was more than 400 million years ago. The chapters dedicated to the paleontological record of the Cincinnatian formation are quite good if somewhat uneven -- the bryozoan and echinoderm chapters are extensive while those covering trilobites and cephalopods felt a bit thin. But the chapters are all rather lavishly illustrated and there are some nice biographical vignettes of the early Cincinnati explorers. All in all this is an informative and comprehensive volume that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in geology or paleontology.
March 16, 2022
A Sea Without Fish is heavy on black & white photos of shells, with no shortage of statistics and measurements of fossils. Indeed, it is fair to say this book is on the drier side. The lovely painting "The Cincinnatian" by John Agnew is a highlight (suitably the book's cover) - too bad there isn't much other paleoart like it here. Nevertheless, books on the Ordovician intended for the public are uncommon so this is an important and valuable contribution on the topic.
May 5, 2024
What I like best about this book is about how the authors talk about what the study of the fossil remains in question meant for the development of American natural history as a discipline before it was professionalized. I also like how there is more effort than you normally see to put these fossil remains into context, such as what locality these creatures actually lived in and what this assemblage of life was actually like as an environmental niche. Compared to these points the coverage of the actual fossils pales a bit in comparison.
Originally written: May 31, 2017.
Originally written: May 31, 2017.
March 12, 2020
This book perfectly illustrates the problems I have with the science community. Instead of conveying information, it simply preaches data as gospel. There was no soul or human voice in the undertaking of this project. I'm sure there's a well written book about this fascinating time in history out there somewhere, but it isn't this one.
January 14, 2024
This book is yet another whose topic is of a specific aspect of the ancient world. Specifically, the seas of the Ordovician of what is now Cincinnati and its surrounding regions. It goes beyond however a simple overview of the most charismatic fauna but covers a lot.
It starts with a really fascinating introduction to the history of those who had studied the area and collected fossils and really shows how even those not trained in a specific field can make massive contributions in anything depending on what they do. It then goes over the concept of taxonomy as well as geology of the area before diving into what probably most people are interested in, that being the life of the area. While these initial sections might not be everyone's tea they are all fascinating to read genuinely some of the most interesting coverage of these topics widely avaliable
But now let's go into the meat of the book, the discussion on the many life forms of this region of the primordial ocean. And it does cover everything, from the algae that is the base of the food chain to the sponges and cnidarians which while familiar would still be alien to our eyes. The beehive like Tabulata and Viking horn shaped Rugosa corals now long extinct were there instead of the more modern groups. Other groups like Bryozoans and Brachiopods are also depicted and while still alive have been relegated to obscurity in modern day but back in those days were some of the dominant lifeforms, filling niches that bivalves hold now.
That's not to say there were no mollusks indeed the book discusses these creatures which included the massive orthocones that haunted the waters as living torpedoes that were the apex predators feeding on what they could catch. Bivalves were there though minor as were snails. Ancient groups like Monoplacophorans were much more diverse in the region and even a group now entirely extinct Rostroconch that resembled bivalves. Perhaps the most abundant animals were the echinoderms, strange relatives of the modern starfish such as crinoids forming living forests that waved in the currents filtering and that's not even mentioning the strange Stylophorans and Cyclocystoids that defy description.
Arthropods too dwelt in these waters, from the iconic trilobites that I love so dearly in many forms both massive and small. There were also the first eurypterids filling the role of small predators beneath the Orthocones, sorta like foxes. The book's discussion of animals ends with a discussion of Conodonts which while yes they do make the claim that it was a sea without fish no longer entirely accurate, these lamprey like creatures would have been utterly alien to the modern person. We then see a chapter that discusses the wider ecology of the region and end the book with an account of what a dive would be like and man it does really sound like an alien world familiar in some ways yet still utter different.
Overall an amazing book though I think two things prevent this book from being perfect. One it is pretty niche at least compared to most other books on prehistory and two most of the images are black and white outside of the image used for the cover which admittedly a rather beautiful piece depicting the sea. If you are ok with the premise you'll likely love this book well worth a dive into
It starts with a really fascinating introduction to the history of those who had studied the area and collected fossils and really shows how even those not trained in a specific field can make massive contributions in anything depending on what they do. It then goes over the concept of taxonomy as well as geology of the area before diving into what probably most people are interested in, that being the life of the area. While these initial sections might not be everyone's tea they are all fascinating to read genuinely some of the most interesting coverage of these topics widely avaliable
But now let's go into the meat of the book, the discussion on the many life forms of this region of the primordial ocean. And it does cover everything, from the algae that is the base of the food chain to the sponges and cnidarians which while familiar would still be alien to our eyes. The beehive like Tabulata and Viking horn shaped Rugosa corals now long extinct were there instead of the more modern groups. Other groups like Bryozoans and Brachiopods are also depicted and while still alive have been relegated to obscurity in modern day but back in those days were some of the dominant lifeforms, filling niches that bivalves hold now.
That's not to say there were no mollusks indeed the book discusses these creatures which included the massive orthocones that haunted the waters as living torpedoes that were the apex predators feeding on what they could catch. Bivalves were there though minor as were snails. Ancient groups like Monoplacophorans were much more diverse in the region and even a group now entirely extinct Rostroconch that resembled bivalves. Perhaps the most abundant animals were the echinoderms, strange relatives of the modern starfish such as crinoids forming living forests that waved in the currents filtering and that's not even mentioning the strange Stylophorans and Cyclocystoids that defy description.
Arthropods too dwelt in these waters, from the iconic trilobites that I love so dearly in many forms both massive and small. There were also the first eurypterids filling the role of small predators beneath the Orthocones, sorta like foxes. The book's discussion of animals ends with a discussion of Conodonts which while yes they do make the claim that it was a sea without fish no longer entirely accurate, these lamprey like creatures would have been utterly alien to the modern person. We then see a chapter that discusses the wider ecology of the region and end the book with an account of what a dive would be like and man it does really sound like an alien world familiar in some ways yet still utter different.
Overall an amazing book though I think two things prevent this book from being perfect. One it is pretty niche at least compared to most other books on prehistory and two most of the images are black and white outside of the image used for the cover which admittedly a rather beautiful piece depicting the sea. If you are ok with the premise you'll likely love this book well worth a dive into
July 20, 2023
This book is mainly about the fossils of the Cincinnatian found near Cincinnati from the Ordovician Period. I don’t know much about fossils so the terminology confused me at times (although there is a glossary included at the end). I still enjoyed the discussions and conjectures of the types of fossils found and how they lived. Many photos helped to illustrate this.
February 3, 2024
A well articulated book specially when it comes to making its chapters chronologically based while not forgetting to classify them depending on different Family of species which is a must in any Paleontological book
March 12, 2009
This book is really interesting to me because I love what it's talking about,(paleontology in Ohio), and I know both of the authors.
April 25, 2019
This is an incredibly dry book that talks a lot about the anatomy of animals like bivalves. Has some black and white illustrations.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews