The Great Fossil Enigma: The Search for the Conodont Animal

A fascinating, comprehensive, accessible account of conodont fossils—one of paleontology's greatest mysteries: "Deserves to be widely read and enjoyed" (Priscum).

Stephen Jay Gould borrowed from Winston Churchill when he described the eel-like conodont animal as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The search for its identity confounded scientists for more than a century. Some thought it a slug, others a fish, a worm, a plant, even a primitive ancestor of ourselves. As the list...