Richard Ellis is a celebrated authority on marine biology and America's foremost marine life artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide. His nine books include The Search for the Giant Squid (a Publishers Weekly 1998 Best Book of the Year), Great White Shark, Encyclopedia of the Sea, Men and Whales, Monsters of the Sea, Deep Atlantic The Book of Whales, and Imagining Atlantis.

Life on earth began in the sea, and in this tour de force of natural history, authority on marine biology and illustrator Richard Ellis chronicles more than three billion years of aquatic history. From the first microbes and jawless fishes that evolved into the myriad species we know today - sharks, whales, dolphins, and, of course, humans - Ellis reveals the deep evolutionary mysteries of the sea. Encyclopaedic in scope and complemented by more than sixty drawings, AQUAGENESIS is a fascinating work that will astonish readers with the wonder, richness, and complexity of the evolution of life.