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.
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"Anyone with an interest in the life found during the Ordovician period will want this book!" —Birdbooker Report 5 (blog), March 2009
(Birdbooker Report 5 (blog) 2009)"The authors provide a comprehensive view of the grand panorama of Ordovician paleontology in the Cincinnati region. This volume belongs in the libraries of those interested in the Ordovician Period, the geology and paleontology of the Cincinnati area, and the history of science." —David J. Bottjer, Professor of Earth and Biological Sciences, University of Southern California
(David J. Bottjer, Professor of Earth and Biological Sciences, University of Southern California )"In this excellent introduction to the Cincinnatian fossil beds, A Sea without Fish offers a fascinating glimpse of a long-extinct ecosystem.... interesting, well-written, and profusely illustrated... Highly recommended." —Choice, August 2009
(Choice 2009)"A Sea without Fish is a lavishly illustrated introduction to a marvelous underwater realm preserved in the 450-million-year-old fossils of the Cincinnatian." —SirReadaLot.org, March 30, 2009
(SirReadaLot.org 2009)"Paleontology is all about roots. A Sea Without Fish is an excellent example of how the history of a discipline and the history of life in the Cincinnati area come together to provide a fascinating, clear understanding about how our knowledge of fossils of the region has evolved....This is an attractive, well-written, and beautifully illustrated book describing the geology and paleontology of one of the best-known and most fossiliferous regions of the world. The book belongs in the personal library of all those interested in paleontology and in college and university libraries." —Northwest Ohio History, Spring 2010
(Northwest Ohio History 2010)"A Sea without Fish is superbly written, richly illustrated, up-to-date, fairly thorough, and downright entertaining in places.... [It] is a fantastic book. Casual collectors will learn something; advanced collectors and geology students will learn something; even professionals will learn something, guaranteed." —Rocks & Minerals, October, 2010
(Rocks & Minerals 2010)From the Author
Richard Arnold Davis is Professor of Biology and Geology at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Steven M. Holland is Professor of Geology at the University of Georgia, Athens. He lives in Athens, Georgia.
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Meyer and Davis cover the development of our knowledge of the fossils by providing biographies of the numerous individuals that have studied the fossils of this time and region. Much of this information is widely scattered and usually not available in one source. The book also describes our current knowledge of how fossils are named and classified, and discusses at length how we think the limestones and shales were deposited in the ancient seas that covered the region approximately 450 million years ago.
After these background chapters, the authors describe various groups of fossils in individual chapters. This part of the book is very well illustrated with good quality photographs and diagrams. A central section has a number of color plates, including a reproduction of the Cincinnatian Sea reconstruction by artist John Agnew. Agnew's artwork is also used on the dust jacket.
Although it is not a comprehensive field guide, _A Sea without Fish_ gives excellent summaries of the different groups of fossils we find and cites the original scientific literature so more specific identifications can be made. Fossil groups with their own chapters include algae, sponges and corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, mollusks, annelids and other worms, arthropods (including trilobites and rare eurypterids), echinoderms (crinoids, edrioasteroids and several other groups), graptolites, conodonts, and trace fossils.
A single chapter on paleoecology by Steven Holland ties much of the fossil information together. This book is exceptionally useful as it places emphasis on what individual fossils can tell us about such divergent topics as paleoecology, biostratigraphy, plate tectonics, and evolution.
_A Sea Without Fish_ also features the best glossary for key terms I have ever seen in a popular paleontology book. This glossary should prove most useful for non-paleontologists reading the book.
I hope that this book is obtained and read by all the "amateur" collectors in the region and that it remains in print for many future editions.
Beyond this, I was struck by a whole chapter on the paleontologists who have studied these strata and collected the fossils; both the professionals and the amateurs--over the last century. Finally, the book ended on an imaginative note (!) -- with the authors engaged in a time-travel excursion to the Ordovicisn, where they saw many of the species that had been discussed in the book in a plausible life-situation. This reinforced my own experience that I was on a journey to another time and place as I was reading the book.
A very engaging read!
Recommended to all students of Paleozoic studies.
Excellent diagrams, charts, and photos.
