Icthyofauna: A Microhistory of Eight Fish that Shaped Humanity

By Joe Ewing

Fish are a civilization-shaping force that have shifted from center stage to out of sight, swimming just below the surface.

Entire calendars once pivoted on fish days. Empires rose on salted cargo. Rivers, migrations, and faiths were entwined with these fascinating creatures with fins. Poets mythologized them; merchants monetized them; engineers dammed and trawled and chilled them. And when we pushed too hard, they collapsed-taking jobs and identities with them.

Icthyofauna follows eight of these world-shapers - carp, tilapia, herring, cod, sturgeon, salmon, bluefin tuna, and the Patagonian toothfish (though you may not know it by that name)-from Neolithic rice paddies to pre-dawn Tokyo auctions, from sacred symbol to luxury to their lab-grown futures. Each chapter traces the arc from humble ponds to planet-spanning scope, from reverence to extraction to-perhaps-restraint.

To understand ourselves, we must first follow the fins.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H73QYWN7
• ISBN13: 9798185094112
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"