Brian Gardiner obituary
Early in his scientific career, Brian Gardiner, who has died aged 88, was seduced by fossils - the remains, shapes or traces of ancient organisms preserved in rock. Brian wanted to learn how these should be interpreted and classified and what they reveal about evolution. In the 1950s, working at Queen Elizabeth College, London (which has now merged with King's College London), and using the collections of the Natural History Museum (NHM), he first studied fish embedded in Jurassic limestone formed 170-200m years ago. This period contains fearsome, primitive cartilaginous sharks, and the biggest bony fish ever - Leedsichthys, reaching 20 metres long.
Using anatomical clues, Brian unravelled a story of the modernisation" of bony fishes as they evolved into the streamlined, fast-swimming, dominant group represented today by salmon and cod. Changes were discovered in fins, tails, teeth and jaws, and a reduction in the hitherto bulky external armour. Critically, there was the transition of softer cartilage into ossified discs in the backbone, a specialisation shared with amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans. Brian became keen to explore wider relationships.
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