H aw aiian F is h e s 11 



Fishes Are Ancestors of Higher Vertebrates 

 Fishes are a very ancient group of animals and date back in time at 

 least 200,000,000 years or more. Even in early Silurian and Devonian 

 times many of the present day groups of fishes were well established, 

 while other more primitive forms still held on to the evolutionary thread 

 of life. Many of these ancient fishes have perished and lie buried in the 

 rocks and ocean bottoms, while others have come down to us almost 

 unchanged by the passage of time. 



Although we do not like to think of these early fishes as our ancestors, 

 most of the higher vertebrates appear to have slowly ascended from these 

 ancient creatures in the course of many millions of years. 



All of the vertebrates, including the amphibians, reptiles, birds, and 

 mammals, show definite proof in their bodily structure and in their em- 

 bryology of having had fish-like ancestors. Although we cannot point 

 with absolute certainty to the group of fishes from which the higher verte- 

 brates have sprung or to trace completely the changes leading upward from 

 the fishes, we feel that the information which we have gathered thus far 

 points unmistakeably to the fact that the higher vertebrates have ascended 

 from the fishes. 



Fishes Vary Widely 



Over a long period of time fishes have been slowly changing. Many 

 have changed to adjust themselves to the changing conditions about them, 

 while others have changed accidentally. In general, they have increased 

 in the number of kinds until today we have over 40,000 different species, 

 each related to the other, yet each a little different from its relatives in 

 its appearance and in its habits. 



These fishes present an unusual panorama in size, color, habits, and 

 distribution. They range in size from m-icroscopic fishes to sharks which 

 are over fifty feet in length and from fishes which are totally black in 

 color through all of the colors of the rainbow to transparent forms. They 

 vary as widely in their habits as in their size. They range from parasitic 

 fishes to free living forms, from carnivorous to herbivorous forms, from 

 sedentary to active types, from forms which lay eggs to forms which bring 

 forth their young alive, from blind forms to fishes possessing remarkable 

 vision, and from fishes which live on land to others which live in the 

 abyssal depths of the sea. But few other creatures on earth occupy a more 

 ioit^resting environment, are more cleverly designed, go so far back in 



