This publication highlights new insights into the evolution of neural systems in vertebrates. The elaboration of links among all levels of vertebrate neural phenomena is the continuing focus of the eighth triannual European conference of comparative neurobiologists (ECCN8), to which this volume is devoted. Topics range from principles of brain morphology and comparative molecular neuroembryology or neuroanatomy over the evolution of hair cell sensory systems, including hearing and lateral line system, to cognitive processes in the teleost fish telencephalon. A comparative approach involves looking at and interpreting facts coming from various developing and adult species in a phylogenetic perspective. The specific value of such a viewpoint is not only to communicate scientific detail but also to open any researcher's mind to the real variability of neural systems and their functional adaptations beyond their own special field. Therefore, this volume is addressed to brain researchers from all disciplines of neuroscience.