Marine

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General / Open Ocean / All Oceans




Coral reef fishes Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean, including the Red Sea
by Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers.  1996
Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press 1996.  400 pp., illus. in color.  Hardcover in glossy pictorial boards
ISBN 0-691-02659-9

As we’ve seen, some books are geographically delineated, others have contents that are defined taxonomically.  This one is based on habitat – specifically coral reef habitats.  An introduction sets the stage, with the majority of the book being page after page of color plates of fishes, with names and brief habitat and distribution data listed on the facing pages.  The broad geographic makes for an attractive and fun book to peruse, but probably makes for added problems when one wants to identify a particular fish.  2074 species are included, with 2500 color illustrations.  The plates are nice and numerous, the colors in some appear a little washed out in this edition.  There’s an earlier (1994) edition by Collins (of which I don’t have a copy), and a French language edition.

Fishes of the Open Ocean: A Natural History and Illustrated Guide

by Julian Pepperell, illustrated by Guy Harey.  2010

University Of Chicago Press (2010), Hardcover, 272 pages, illus.

ISBN 0-226-65539-3

This book I noticed on lists and on-line catalogs for some time before I bought a copy.  And I’m glad I finally did.  It’s a beautiful book.  It’s a natural history survey of (mostly large) open ocean fishes.  Front matter sets the scene and then family by family species accounts cover the many magnificent fishes that prowl open waters.  Accounts of biology are fairly straight forward, geared towards the general reader and the angler or arm-chair angler.  Paintings and/or photographs illustrate the species, shaded area maps give their ranges.  Plates from antique works are used to nice effect here and there.  The paintings by Harvey are quite nice – not detailed scientific illustrations, but water color portraits.  The photographs are often spectacular — the flying fish on p. 229 is a favorite of mine; likewise a fingerling sailfish on p. 56.  I don’t particularly like photographs of fishes with hooks in their mouths...and there are a few of those.  We are given a glimpse into this ichthyofauna that is far away from most human eyes and experience.  On a related note -- The publisher here, University of Chicago Press, deserves some credit, they always do superior work.



Deep Ocean


Oceanic ichthyology, a treatise on the deep-sea and pelagic fishes of the world, based chiefly on the collections made by the Steamers Blake, Albatross, and Fish Hawk in the Northwestern Atlantic
by G. Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean.  1895
Washington, Special Bulletin of the Smithsonian.  2 vols., 553 p. + 123 pls.

Mention “Goode and Bean” to a (competent) ichthyologist, and they will know exactly what work you are referencing: this classic work.  It’s another work you should expect to see on the shelf of an active and engaged ichthyologist.  The authors set out to catalog the deep sea fishes of the world based on specimens available to them; these, by in large, were then recent collections from the exploration cruises named in the title.

It was issued and is generally encountered in two volumes.  Volume 1 (553 pp.) contains the text, which is comprised of a taxonomic accounting of the fishes covered.  Taxa are diagnosed and described, identification keys and synonymies and specimen lists are provided.  Information on life history or ecology is scant.  There are a few text figures in this volume and quite a number of new genera and new species are described.

Volume 2 contains 223 plates (with 417 figures) and a table of contents.  The drawings and printing are of high quality – typical of the U.S. Government Agencies of the period.  Some are line drawings, many are stippled drawings. Some were pulled from earlier government publications.  Many continue to appear in modern publications.
This set is uncommon but not extremely scarce.  I’m not aware of any reprints of it, but I imagine it is available as a pdf. I have several original sets.  The quality of the paper appears to be higher than some other period government publications – at least my copies of Goode and Bean are better preserved than some other period pieces (for example, Jordan and Evermann 1896-1900).

Atlantic and Attached Seas

The first year in the life of estuarine fishes in the Middle Atlantic Bight
Kenneth W. Able and Michael P. Fahay.  1998

New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1998. xii, 342 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm. Hardcover in dj.
ISBN 0813525004

Here’s another of those specialized volumes, containing a large amount of interesting and (so somebody) useful information and representing a huge amount of work.  For each of about 70 species details are offered on the reproduction and early life history.  A very nicely done illustration of a juvenile heads each chapter (illustrations rendered by Sudan Kaiser and Nancy Arthur), followed by details on distribution, reproduction and growth patterns.  Maps, bar charts and graphs fill out the accounts. Individuals of a population can’t be exploited by humans, or take their niche in the ocean ecosystem unless they first survive that first year.  Understanding that first year is key in management, conservation, exploitation and just basic understanding of fishes.  This volume is a great model for this type of work.




Guide des Poissons Marins d'Europe
by Marie-Louise Bauchot and A. Pras.  1980
Lausanne, Delachaux & Niestlé, 427 pp., text figures, 24 pages of black and white and color plates.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 2-603-00139-6

Hundreds of species are covered in this guide.  The area of coverage is the eastern Atlantic from Portugal northward, and the northwestern portion of the Mediterranean Sea.  The introduction is fairly brief and to-the-point.  The main body of the book is a family-by-family guide to the fauna.  Unlike some other guides to this region, keys are provided here, illustrated when appropriate.  The fishes are illustrated either on nicely executed color plates (by M. R. G. Charman) or black and white drawings (by M. J. Defaÿ).  The text for each species is necessarily brief, given (in telegraphed form) the distribution and basic description, including size.  I have never worked with this particular fauna, so have never had opportunity to use these keys.
My copy is inscribed to me by the first author.







Notes on fishes collected at Cozumel, Yucatan, by the U.S. Fish Commission, with descriptions of new species
by Tarleton H. Bean

Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. Off., 1890, Bull. of U.S.Fish Comm. VIII (for 1888): 193-206, 2 pls. Also separate.

This paper is representative a large number of works produced by U.S. government agencies in the decades before and after the turn of the last century.  The Smithsonian and the U.S. Fish Commission sent out exploring parties – including long ship cruises and gathered material from the far corners of the word.  Here T. Bean accounts the fishes collected by the crew of the Steamer Albatross in 1885.  He lists the species encountered, giving descriptive details where appropriate. Several new species are also described - but don’t appear to be considered valid anymore.  The paper is illustrated with 2 engraved plates in the typically high quality of the period.




Observations upon fishes of Great South Bay, Long Island, New York
by Tarleton H. Bean.  1890

Nineteenth Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of New York. p. 237-281, pls.; also separate

The title of this report pretty much nails the topic.  Here we have somewhat series of observations of the fishes of Great South Bay.  There is a general description of the area, with fishery details.  The species are organized taxonomically, but in reverse order (from advanced to primitive).  Otherwise, they are not grouped by order or family and such are not listed.  Observations include tidbids on abundance, fishery import, biology, food value, odd bits of natural history.  There are 26 plates of fishes – images drawn from the standard one belonging to the U.S. Fish Commission.  My copy bears what appears to be the signature of B. W. Evermann.

A catalogue of the fishes of Bermuda with notes on a collection made in 1905 for the Field museum
by Tarleton Hoffman Bean and D. G. Elliot.  2006.
Field Columbia Museum, Zoological Series, Vol. VII (2):  21-89, 14 figs., 1906. Publication No. 108. 25 cm.  wrappers

This is an annotated checklist of the fishes collected around the islands of Bermuda.  Some 261 species are listed.  Most are just listed.  Some also have a few descriptive details added as the authors felt necessary.  One new goby is described (Rhinogobius mowbrayi).  A brief introduction describes the collecting regime and lists the sites.  My copy bears script initials "B.W.E. 10/13/06" -- could be Barton Warren Evermann?









Clés de détermination des poissons de mer signalés dans l'atlantique oriental (entre le 20e parallele nord et le 15e parallele S.)
by Jacques Blache, J. Cadenat and A. Stauch.  1970
Paris: O.R.S.T.O.M., 479 pp.,  illus. in black and white.  Soft cover.

Fishery and conservation workers, fishers and ichthyologists all need to be able to identify fishes in the field or lab.  A regional set of identification keys is an important tool.  This thick volume is basically a long dichotomous key to the fishes of the tropical, eastern Atlantic.  Many hundreds (if not 1000+) species keyed.  Most are illustrated, with key features also illustrated for many.
I’ve never had to identify fishes from this fauna, but should the need ever arise, I am ready.
I found this particular book in Paris in a natural history bookshop near the National Museum of Natural History.  I found quite a few fish books that day on what was probably my best single day of fish-book-buying.






Fishes of the Gulf of Maine
by Henry Bryant Bigelow and William W. Welsh.  1925.
Washington, Govt. Print. Off., Bull. U.S. Bur. Fisheries, Vol. XL (part I),1925. 577 p. illus. 28 cm. Red cloth covered boards.

One hundred and seventy eight species are covered in this classic volume, which is a key foundation to studies of marine fishes of the north Atlantic.  The authors provide us with comprehensive guide to the fishes of the Gulf of Maine, which will also spill over into adjacent areas . A brief introduction and statement of purpose opens the work.  The remainder of the volume is composed of species accounts.  There is a key to families and keys for each family.  Species accounts are typical for the period, description, habitat, food, habitats, and such. Some species get a detailed treatment, other more poorly known ones have shorter accounts.  There are 273 text figures, mostly of fishes with a few maps.  The figures were drawn from the standard sources of the time, including the often seen illustrations from the U.S. Fish Commission.  My copy is inscribed by Henry Bigelow to his mother.
William W. Welsh (1878-1921) was originally assigned the preparation of this manuscript, but died leaving it unfinished.  Henry B. Bigelow (1879-1967) completed the work for publication.

Supplemental notes on Fishes of the Gulf of Maine
by Henry Bryant Bigelow and William C. Schroeder.  1936
Bull. Bur. Fisheries, Vol. XLVIII, Bull. No. 20:  319-334, also separate, not illus.

The authors, in this short work, update the original 1925 Fishes of the Gulf of the Maine.  It includes new records to the region, or augmented or updated data on biology or range.  And improved key to the skates and rays in also included.  An authority can craft a key, but it usually takes people with less experience with the group, working with that key, to find its flaws or deficiencies.  Published keys are often works in progress.












Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, revised edition
by Henry Bryant Bigelow and William C. Schroeder.  1953
United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin Vol. 53, Bulletin 74, revised edition, 577 pp., illus. in black and white, issued in paperback and red cloth

This is a much updated and revised edition of the 1924 original by Bigelow and Welsh.  William Schroeder (1895-1977), who collaborated on the 1936 supplement continued as coauthor on this revision.












Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, 1964 reprint
by Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder
U.S. Department of the Interior, 1953 (1964 reprint published by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Museum of Comparative Zoology), viii + 577, illus. in black and white, red cloth covered boards

This is an exact reprint of the 1953 revision.











Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, 3rd Edition
by Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder, Third edition edited by Bruce B. Collette and Grace Klein-MacPhee.  2002.

Smithsonian Institution Press, xxxvi + 747 pages, maps, illus. in black and white, hard cover, glossy pictorial boards
ISBN 1-56098-951-3

Three quarters of a century after the first version of this important and widely used work, we are given this highly revised and updated edition.  As has become customary in broadly inclusive works such as they, the revision of this work was accomplished by a series of authorities.  This new edition has a number of ‘new’ species, and the species accounts are much more detailed and exhaustive compared to the early version.  A lengthy bibliography allows an efficient entrance to the literature.  Distribution maps are included for some species.  The lay out is attractive and well crafted.  My copy didn’t not come with a dust jacket, I assume it wasn’t issued with one.









Antillean Fish Guide
by Bart de Boer, Dick, Hoogerwerf, Ingvar Krisensen and Jankees Post.  1973
Curacao: Netherlands Antilles National Parks Foundation, Caribbean Marine Biological Institute, STINAPA No. 7, 110 pp., illus. in black and white, soft cover

This is another in the class of small guides intended for visitors to particular region.  Close to 200 species of fishes (and sea turtles) are included.  Most are illustrated with black and white drawings (a little stylized); the species accounts are brief with reference to color/appearance, biology and habitat.  No keys, no maps.  Very little in the way of an introduction.  The authors reference and direct the reader to Jack Randall.










Fishes of the Bahamas and adjacent tropical waters
by James E. Böhlke and Charles C. G. Chapin.  1968 and 1970
Wynnewood, Pa., Published for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Livingston [1968] xxiii, 771 p. illus., cloth covered boards, issued with dust jacket
First printing - 1968
Second printing - 1970 - ISBN 0-87098-006-8

This classic volume is another of those one finds on the book shelf of a serious student of ichthyology.  It should be there, whether or not one actually works with Bahamian fishes.  A brief introduction sets the stage. There’s a section on fish identification and identification keys are provided for each family (illustrated where necessary or helpful).  The book is thick and makes lavish use of page space.  For example, each species account is a full page.  A picture at the top, with details on identification, distribution, miscellaneous.  A handful of species are illustrated by full page color plates of high quality. Although published in the late 1960, this aspect of the book harkens back to the classic illustrated works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were two printings - 1968 and 1970.  The text and binding of the two appear to be identical. I only find two differences – copyright page is altered to reflect the second printing and the second printing was assigned an ISBN number that is not listed on the first edition.  AND the second edition is printed on heavier paper and thus is several mm thicker than the first edition.  The dust jackets for the first and second printings appear to be identical.

Rarity note:  In my experience 2nd printing copies are somewhat more common that 1st printing ones.  The color plates attract interest to this volume, and it long demanded a fairly high price from natural history book dealers (upwards of $200).  The advent of internet searching and sales sites such as ebay have driven the price way down. Obviously supply outstrips demand.  I've seen copies on Ebay go unsold for under $20.




Fishes of the Bahamas and adjacent tropical waters, 2nd edition
by James E. Böhlke Charles C. G. Chaplin
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993. xlviii, 771 p., 36 p. of plates : ill. (some col.), map ; 27 cm. 2nd ed.  Hard cover in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-292-70792-7819

The 2nd edition of this classic work is basically a reprinting of the original 1968 edition, with some new front matter — changes and additions prepared by Eugenia B. Böhlke and William F. Smith-Vaniz.  Several color plates are replaced, and the color plates are all grouped in a single gallery (rather than dispersed through the volume as in the 1st Edition).  The updates include numerous nomenclatural changes and several pages of fishes added to the Bahamian fauna, and a few pages of new references.  With these, the original book gets new life and continued use.

Field Book of Marine Fishes of the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to Texas; being a short description of their characteristics and habits with keys to identification.  Revised edition
by Charles M. Breder.  1948
New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons. xxxvii + 332 pp. illus. in black and white, map.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

Breder wrote this guide (original edition published in 1929) to aid the non-specialist in identifying Atlantic shore fishes.  It was the first comprehensive guide to this region; I’ve used its keys to at times.  The book opens with the usual basics – a definition of the area of concern, basics on fish biology and evolution and a primer on fish identification,.  Keys and species accounts follow.  As noted above, I’ve used the keys and they worked well enough for my purposes at the time.  The coverage starts with cephalochordates.  The species accounts are fairly basic.  Many are illustrated with sketchy drawings; most contain little more than the basics on distribution and habitat.  There are 8 plates at the rear of the volume.  There were apparently printed in color in the 1929 edition (I don’t have a copy to confirm that, but it is so stated in book catalogs).  They are offered in black and white (at least) in my copy of the revised edition.  My printing of the revised edition is also missing the first page of the introduction.






Poissons de mer du Sénégal
by Jean Cadenat.  1950
Dakar, Institut français d'Afrique noire,  345 pp., illus. in black and white, errata sheet.  Green cloth covered boards.  Dust jacket ?

Here’s a handy guide to the marine fishes in waters off Senegal.  The front matter introduces fishes and fish biology.  There’s a review of fish classification and a lengthy key to genera.  The taxonomic section covers a few hundred species, but the information is given largely at a family or generic level of detail.  Two hundred and forty one representative fishes are illustrated with fairly basic line drawings.  Several appendices offer check-lists of fishes known from the region (over 400 species represented in the IFAN collection) and several smaller sub-geographic areas.  My copy was clearly used by somebody – it is inscribed by the author and extensively annotated in pencil.  And water damaged - very appropriate for a fish book.
My copy lacks a dust jacket; I don’t know if it was issued with one.








Fishes from the southern Caribbean collected by Velero III in 1939
by David Keller Caldwell and Melba C. Caldwell.  1964
Los Angeles, University of Southern California Press, Allan Hancock Atlantic Expedition, Report No. 10, 60 pp., 2 plates

In 1939 a collection of fishes was made in the southern Caribbean off the coasts of Panama, Columbia and Venezuela.  The specimens were roughly sorted to family, but never fully identified.  In such state collections are easily overlooked by researchers as they are not to be found in the museum catalog or shelved in the collection range with their conspecifics.  The authors worked this collection and identified the material to species, as much as possible.  This report is an annotated listing of the taxa they identified.  In the era before computerized museum catalogs, a report like this would be been a useful tool in accessing these specimens.  Every museum I have ever visited or curated had series like this – specimens collected and sometimes rough sorted, but not available to researchers because they remain hidden from plain view.   The report ends with checklists by region and 2 photographic plates of specimens from the genus Thalassophryne.






Los peces marinos de Venezuela (2 volumes)
by Fernando Cervigón.  1966
Estación de Investigaciones Marinas de Margarita, Fundacioón La Salle de Ciencias Naturales, 1966. 2 vol. (954 p.) ill. Soft cover.

This two volume set covers the fishes of the coastal waters of Venezuela and some of the near shore islands.  The introduction is short and mostly about the methods used – not about the biology or ecology of the region.  The diversity section begins with cephalochordates – not technically fishes, but where else are you going to find them?  Identification keys are included with the species accounts.  Species accounts themselves are basic...a short synonymy, specimens examined, descriptive details, range, habitat and comments.  Black and white drawings (383 total) are provided for most species, and there is a fold out map.  A useful volume for the Southern Caribbean, but I can see these volumes coming apart with much lab or field use – I would guess active users rebind them or insert them into a 3-ring binder (as I’ve done with some lab copies of my books).

Guide to coastal fishes of Georgia and nearby states
by Michael D. Dahlberg.  1975 (second printing 1976, third 1980)
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1975 xvi + 186 pp., illus. in black and white soft cover
ISBN 0-8203-0333-X

Reissued in 2008, ISBN 0-8203-3292-5

This is a really useful little book.  I remember getting an unsorted jar of SE
coastal fishes from the fish collection at my university and using this guide to identify them for cataloging.  This was one of my first experiences in such an exercise, and I remember what a relevation it was that I could actually identify these unknowns specimens – the world had order.  My copy still has its 1984 shipping invoice from University George Press tucked in the back – $7.50 back then. The book itself is pretty standard – there’s and introduction to the region, key to families and then species accounts, with more keys.  Close to 200 species are covered.  Illustrations (drawings and photographs of preserved specimens) are grouped at the back of the book.  A sturdier binding would have been a good idea (as is the case in many of the compact guides that will used in the field or lab).  Pictured is my 1980 printing...I don’t know if the other printings were any different.
The 2008 reissue is not an updated or revised edition.  The only changes that I can find from earlier printings are the cover and appropriate alterations to the copy right page.  I’ve used this work a couple times to identify coastal fishes - it must be finding many users in the region in order to justify the reprintings and reissues.

Mediterranean and Atlantic Fish Guide - from Spain to Turkey, From Norway to South Africa
by Helmut Debelius.  1997
Frankfurt: IKAN, 305 pp., illus. in color, Glossy pictorial boards, not dust jacket issued

This is another compact heavily illustrated color guides to marine fishes.  Some 800 species are illustrated with color photographs of fish in their natural habitats.  The text is organized taxonomically (for some reason hagfishes are placed after Chondrichthyes).  Because of the number of species covered, the information presented for each is necessarily brief, presented in a telegraphic matter.  The photography is excellent; I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the identifications.  There are no keys or other detailed identification aids.  Dr. Marie-Louise Bauchot provides an introduction.

The Fishes of Martha's Vineyard

by Joseph B. Elvin, drawings by Will Huntington. 1966
The Dukes County Intelligencer. Vol. 7(3): 253-278, illus. Soft cover.

About 40 marine fishes frequenting the waters around Martha’s Vineyard are covered here.  Most, if not all, are species that would be likely encountered by anglers.  The sketchy information provided is largely that of interest to an angler or fisher.  Each species is illustrated by a simple line and stippled drawing.  The species are presented in alphabetical order by common name.











FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes:  Mediterranean and Black Sea (fishing area 37)
by W Fischer (ed).  1973

Rome : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1973. 2 vols. unpaginated, in binders, illus. in black and white with maps

A guide to more abundant and commercially significant species in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.  Volume I covers bony fishes; volume II, cartilaginous fishes, crustaceans and molluscs.  The focus of the several titles in this series is on providing an identification resource for fishers, managers and conservation workers.  Information on each species included is presented in a regular, somewhat telegraphic way.  Each species is illustrated, with drawings of diagnostic traits as needed.  A shaded area range map is also provided.  The pages aren’t numbered; it appears the plan was to provide additional or updated sheets as warranted.  I don’t know if such sheets were ever issued.  At least some sets in this identification sheet series are available in digital formats (dvd, pdf).
















A Guide Book to the Marine Fishes of Rhode Island (2nd edition)
by Bernard L. Gordon.  1974
Watch Hill, R.I., Book & Tackle Shop,  xi +136 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-910258-00-7

The author of this volume was a biology professor and an enthusiastic observer of the natural world, especially the marine fishes near his home in Rhode Island.  This book is more of an annotated checklist than a guide.  The listing of the Rhode Island’s ichthyofauna is bases on collections and observations of commercial catches.  Front matter discusses the fish fauna of Rhode Island in historical and biogeographic contexts.  The species accounts which follow are brief – discussing the specimen(s) on which the record is based and the economic importance of the fish.  Some 215 species are included; about 70 species are illustrated in black and white photographs.  The production (esp. the quality of photographic reproduction) is a little rough, but this book is the only one I can think of that is devoted solely to the fishes of this particular state.  The publisher is listed as Book and Tackle Shop, which was owned by the author.  I don't have a copy of the first edition.







Guide to Corals & Fishes of Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean
by Idaz Greenberg.  1977 (1986)
Seahawk Press, 64 pp., illus. in color.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-913008-08-7

This is a picture guide to the fishes (also turtles and common corals) of the region.  The text launches directly into the diversity, with no introduction.  Two hundred and fifty or so species are illustrated, with brief captions on each.  No identification guide (other than searching the pictures), no maps.  The paintings a little postery, nice (and certainly better than anything I can do).








Beneath tropic seas: the fishes (Fishes of Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean)
by Jerry Greenberg, Idaz Greenberg, Michael Greenberg.  1987
Seahawk Press, 64 pp., illus. in color.  Soft color
ISBN 0-913008-19-2

This looks to be a reworking of Idaz Greenberg’s Guide to Corals & Fishes (see above).  The principle difference is the addition of excellent underwater photographs of representative species.  Also - turtles and corals are not included in this work.











A sportsman's field guide to the billfishes, mackerels, little tunas and tunas of South Carolina
by Donald L Hammond and David M. Cupka.  1975

South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Dept., Marine Resources Division. 32 pp., illus. with black and white drawings. Soft cover

So you catch a tuna or billfish and want to know what species it is (or need to because of permit rules).  This is a simple guide to give you just that information.  The various species are illustrated with simple sketches or stippled dot drawings, with diagnostic traits and basic biology (and angler interest) given. The diagnostic traits are also laid out in a table.  A literature cited of more technical listerature closes the volume - a nice feature for the angler or naturalist who wishes to dig deeper.










Guide des Poissons de la Méditerranée
by Mireille Harmelin-Vivien and Jean-Georges Harmelin.  1990 (also 3rd edition 1996)
Neuchâtel Delachaux et Niestlé, 144 pp., illus. in color.

ISBN 9-782603-007-341

Here is an attractive photographic (all color) guide to Mediterranean fishes – aimed at the general reader or naturalist.  The front matter is far more detailed than is common for works such as this (a nice touch).  It covers biogeography, fish ecology, feeding, reproduction with a bit on fishery exploitation.  One hundred and thirty species are included, each is illustrated with a photograph, most of the photos show living fishes in their natural habitat.  Each photo is captioned with the basic details of the range and biology of the fish in question.

Somehow, I picked up two editions of this, which really aren’t different editions, but rather different printings.  The 1996 version (called the 3rd edition on the copyright page) is essentially identical to the 1990 version.  It’s in a different cover (glossy pictorial boards that match the dust jacket of the 1990 version) and has a different dust jacket.  This 1996 version appears to have been issued as part of a series of nature guides.  How’s that for information that everybody has been dying to know?







Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters, 1st edition
by H. Dickson Hoese and Richard H. Moore.  1977
College Station: Texas A&M University Press (first edition), xv + 327 p., illus. in black and white, color plates, hard cover, dust jacket

This is a straightforward and quite useful identification guide to this fauna.  The front matter covers basics of the fauna - biogeography, conservation, fish identification.  A gallery of color plates illustrates the nearly 500 species covered.  The individual images are smallish and vary in usefulness and quality.  A key to families is offered.  Each family has a key (illustrated as necessary).  The species accounts (nearly 500 of them) are brief with diagnostic traits and basics of distribution/biology.  Several appendices break down the fauna by region and spawning season.  There’s a lengthy literature cited (something often missing from guides of this type).
This book was issued in paper back and hard cover.  I have a soft cover copy of the 3rd printing (1992); it’s the same as my hard cover first.






Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters, 2nd edition
by H. Dickson Hoese and Richard H. Moore, photography by Farley Sonnier, drawings by Dinah Bowman.  1998

College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2nd edition, xv + 422 pp., illus. black and white, color plates, map, hard cover in dust jacket
ISBN 0-89-96-737-7

Here is an updated edition of this very useful work.  A number of new species (both ‘new’ to the region and new to science) are added (the number is now 540).  Accounts and discussions have also been updated with research conducted since the 1977 edition.  The format is essentially the same - a work that strives to be scientifically accurate and complete and yet accessible to the non-professional.  The color illustrations are much improved.  Some images have been replaced by better ones, and the presentation is less crowded.  The lengthy bibliography is appreciated by the more technical user.









Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas
by Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach (Editor)
New World Publications

1st edition, 1989, 272 pages, illus. in color, spiral bound
ISBN 1-878348-00-0

2nd edition, 1994, 2nd printing (revised), 1996

396 pp., illus. in color, spiral bound
ISBN 1-878348-07-8

3rd edition, 2002
481 pp., illus. in color, soft bound, clear plastic jacket
ISBN 1-878348-30-2, 484 pp.

There are 3 editions of this book (at least that I have), each larger and more broadly inclusive than the one before.  Hundreds of species are covered.  Each illustrated with an excellent in situ photograph, with accompanying text detailing habitat, identification, biology, behavior.  As with other books in this series by this author and his colleagues, this title is aimed at the diver/snorkeler.  Introductory chapters set the stage regarding visiting the reefs and observing fishes.  Fishes are identified using an outline ‘key’ to families and then comparing your find to photographs and drawings in the appropriate section.  There is long list of people from the professional ichthyological community who assisted in accuracy of this book.

Check-list of the fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean, CLOFNAM = Catalogue des poissons de l'Atlantique du nord-est et de la Méditerranée

edited by J. C. Hureau and Th. Monad. 1979.

Paris : United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1979. 2 vols. 677 pp., and 394 pp. Not illustrated. Paper bound.

It all starts with knowing the parts of your system, your fauna.  More synthetic work cannot go forward without such a foundation.  This is one of a series of check lists for various world faunas.  They typically recruit authorities for the different families; families with no living authorities or recent revisions generally fall to the editors.  The species accounts of CLOFNAM include a detailed synonymy, with other bibliographic details arranged by subject, range and habitat notes and common names.  Volume I includes the introduction and check-list; Volume II contains the bibliography, index, an addendum of late entries and a couple pages of errata.  My set comes from the library of the late Guideo Dingerkus.

A Field Guide to the Marine Fishes of Wales and Adjacent Waters
by Paul Kay and Frances Dipper.  2009
Marine Wildlife (2009), Hardcover, 256 pages, illus. in black and white and color, map.  Soft bound
ISBN 978-0-9562048-0-6

Two hundred and fifty species are covered in this volume.  Species accounts are detailed and illustrated with excellent color photographs (of fishes in their natural habitats.  Some drawings are also included when needed to illustrate some particular feature.  The book has a bibliography and annotated check-list of UK and Irish fishes.








A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes: From Maine to Texas

Valerie A. Kells and Kent Carpenter. 2011
The Johns Hopkins University Press (2011), Paperback, 448 pages, illus.

The first author of this volume is the illustrator. She has created 100s of color paintings of the fishes of the Atlantic Coast of the US. A field guide in the true sense, this books gives a guide to families to narrow your search, and then these accurate and attractive paintings to assist in narrowing your search to species. The species accounts are quite brief and there are no distribution maps.








The Sea Angler's Fishes
by Michael Kennedy.  1954
London, Hutchinson, xiv +524, black and white text figs., 13 color pls., hard cover in dust jacket

As I’ve probably written in other reviews, I don’t have many purely angling books.  When thumbing through a volume in bookshop, if I see illustrations of fishing lures or shots of an angler hoisting fish up by the operculum, I generally ship the tome back on to shelf.
This book covers marine fishes from the waters around Britain and Ireland.  The introduction covers basic ichthyology and fish biology and offers a classification of regional fishes.  The taxonomic section covers major fishes that an angler might seek or encounter, more-or-less by family.  Color plates (which are of good quality)  illustrate certain species; black and white text figures (drawings or photographs) illustrate others.  The accounts cover identification and basic biology and life history.  An appendix discusses angling.  So this is not technically an angling book - it’s a guide or general natural history for marine fishes around Britain - aimed at the angler or interested person.











A Complete Guide to the Fishes of Malta, 2nd revised edition
by Guido G. Lanfranco.  1965
Progress Press Co., Ltd., Malta.  95 pp., 41 black and white plates, soft cover

I might call this more of an annotated check-list than a ‘complete guide.’  Three hundred and one species are listed and about that many illustrated.  The introduction is brief and not particularly deep.  Oddly (to me), it cites authorities without giving the citations.  The species accounts are telegraphic with basics of size, identification, range and fishery interest given.  The plates are presented in black and white with illustrations that are rather stylized.  Also - it’s the only book of which I’m aware devoted to the fishes of Malta.

















Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of Canada
by A. H. Leim and W. B. Scott.  1966
Ottawa : Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1966.  Bulletin No. 155, 485 pp., illus., color plates, folding map. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

A. H. Leim had largely completed this book at the time of his death in 1960.  W. B. Scott gathered the manuscript materials together and completed the work for publication.  This book shows the typical excellent production and presentation of the Fisheries Research Boards of Canada.  The front matter is brief, and includes a folding map.  The species accounts include a key to families, with additional keys with families.  Some 300 species are covered.; most are illustrated (with many drawings taken from the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries library of illustrations).  Species accounts include descriptive and range data and details of ecology and life history as known.

Poissons de la Côte Atlantique du Canada
by A. H. Leim and W. B. Scott.  1972

Office des Researches sur les pêcheries du Canada, Ottawa. Bulletin 155, 530 pp., illustrated with black and white drawings and color plates. Cloth boards in DJ.

French language translation of Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of Canada (1966). Another class and well-crafted Canadian faunal guide (see detailed remarks for the English edition). Scarcely (in my experience) seen in French.

Fishes of the Sea, The Coastal Waters of the British Isles, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean

John N. Lythgoe and Gillian Lythgoe.  1971.
Blandford Press (1971), 320 pp., illus.  Hardcover, blue cloth boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-7137-0539-6

This book serves as a field guide and natural history guide.  Without using keys, it guides the reader through identification of common eastern Atlantic coastal fishes.  Some key characters are illustrated, and many species are given line drawings.  A basic outline of each species’ biology is given.  There are some 212 photographic plates, most in color and of living fishes in their natural habitat.  I like photographs of fishes living in their world.  To me, it connects them to their world in a way that a mug-shot photograph for illustrative purposes (while useful) does not.

Fishes of the Sea, The Coastal Waters of the British Isles, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean

John N. Lythgoe and Gillian Lythgoe. 1975 (1971).

New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1975, c1971. 320 pp., illus.  Hardcover, blue cloth boards in dust jacket

ISBN 0-385-07699-1

This is the US edition of the Lythogoe’s 1971 book.  As near as I can tell the textblock is identical to the British Edition.  The US edition comes with a different dusk jacket and the title page and copyright page are altered to reflect the different editions.  On the copyright page of the US edition, there is also a paragraph of errata, presumably errors found in the original text between 1971 and 1975.




Fishes of the sea : the North Atlantic and Mediterranean

by John and Gillian Lythgoe.  1992 (1991)

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1992.  256 pp., illus. in color and black and white, map. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

ISBN 0-262-12162-X

Here is an updated and expanded edition of the Lythgoe’s book on Atlantic fishes (the MIT Press version (US) was published in 1992; a UK version was published in 1991 by Blandford).  Numerous color, provided by Planet Earth Pictures, document the fauna, or at least representatives of each family.  Black and white drawings of individual species portray key differences for identification.  I note the goby chapter is authored by goby authority Peter Miller.  A useful and attractive volume.







Poissons de Mer
by Thierry Maître-Allain and Patrick Louisy.  1990
Paris: Arthaud, 160 pp., illus. in color.  Glossy pictorial boards
ISBN  9-782700-3087-09

This is a small pocket guide to fishes likely to be encountered in sea waters around France.  The introduction gives basics of fish biology and fisheries.  A couple hundred species are covered.  Each is illustrated with a color photograph of an individual in natural habitat.  The text includes the basics of identification and biology as might be of interest to a diver or angler.







Fishes of the Texas Laguna Madre: A Guide for Anglers and Naturalists
by David A. McKee.  2008
TAMU Press (2008), Paperback (pictorial stiff wrappers), 224 pages, illus.
ISBN 1-60344-028-3

This is a field / natural history guide to the fishes of near shore waters of the Texas / Mexico border area – esp. those to be found in the partially enclosed Laguna Madre.  This book stems from unpublished manuscript copy and illustrations by the late Henry Hildebrand and the late Hank Compton.  The introduction includes detailed discussion of the history, biology and issues of the Laguna Madre, followed by a primer on fish identification.  Species account follow, but without keys, identification is mostly via comparing your specimens with the illustrations and descriptions.  Some natural history information or fishery information is included.  There are no maps.  The illustrations are monochromatic water colors; they are a little stiff and stylized, but nice.  This is not a book directed at ichthyologists – but scientists and fishery managers working along the coast likely find it of use.  The target audience is the amateur naturalist and angler – any book that peaks their interest and helps them delve deeper into the biology of their catches is a good thing.

Report on the fishes collected by Dr. J. Boeke in the Dutch West Indies 1904-1905 with comparative notes on marine fishes of tropical west Africa
by Jan Metzelaar.  1919 (1967 reprint)
Minister van Kolonies, 1919, 314 pp., illus. in black and white, also issued in Dutch (Reprint - Amsterdam, A. Asher & Co., 1967. 314 pp., cloth covered boards, no dust jacket)

This report, fairly typical of many such works, is a detailed accounting and catalog of major collections of fishes.  In this case, we have a large collection of fishes made in the Dutch West Indies by Dr. J. Boeke in 1904-1905.  The specimens are identified here-in, diagnosed, with new species described as appropriate.  The contents of some smaller, regional collections available to the author are also covered.  Some 337 species are included, about 50 are illustrated.  A second section of this work, treats a similar series of collections from the eastern Atlantic (Canary Island to Angola).  Some 577 species are included here; again brief diagnoses/descriptions of common or well known creatures, more detail given for unusual species or species new to science.  No maps.  My copy is the Asher & Co. reprint.  Asher produced a number of high quality reprints of ichthyological works in the 1960s.












Havfisk og fiskeri i Nordvesteuropa (original Danish edition)
by Bent J. Muus, illustrated by Preben Dalhlstrom.  1964 (1977)
København: G E C Gads, 1964 (1977). 244 pp., illus. in color,  maps.  Pictorial boards.
ISBN 87-12-23332-3 (soft cover); ISBN 87-12-23333-1 (hard cover)

Vare Saltvannsfisker og Fiskerier i Nordvesteuropa (Norwegian edition)
Bent J. Muus, Preben Dahlstrom and Per Oynew.  1981.
NKS-Forlaget, 1981, 244 p., illus.  Stiff boards.
ISBN 82-508-0122-9

Here is a popular, well-illustrated guide to the marine fishes of Northwestern Europe.  Some 176 species are discussed, illustrated, most are mapped.  The illustrations are numerous and nice...a little stylized in keeping with general readership nature of this volume.  My copy of the Danish version is the 1977 printing hard cover printing (I don’t know if it was issued with a dust jacket).

Coral Reef Fishes of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (Nettherlands Antilles)/ Piska di ref di koral na Aruba, Boneiru i Korsow
by Wil Nagelkerken.  1980
Island Territory of Curacao, 126 pp., illus. in color First edition, Paperback

This small book is a pretty good example of a general guide to a local fauna that would be of primary interest to visitors and tourists, in this case to the islands of the Lesser Antilles.  The introduction and front matter are quite brief, with most of the volume being dedicated to the fauna.   One hundred to one hundred and fifty species are covered.  These would be, I would guess, the species most likely to be encountered by a diver or snorkeler.  Each species is illustrated with a color photograph (taken on habitat – they are variable in quality), and a general species account that describes the species and offers observations on behavior and biology.  The text ends with a couple pages inviting readers to come to the islands and see the fishes in person.
The book is bilingual - English and Pipiamentu







Guide to Marine Fishes:  a new method for identification of marine fishes
by Alfred Perlmutter.  1961
New York University Press, 431 pp., illus. in black and white, hard cover, dust jacket

Here is an set of illustrated keys to fishes found from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.  It looks like it would be pretty handy and was published with guides to this fauna would not have been common.  I don’t have much experience with this fauna, and have run specimens through these keys, so can’t attest to their accuracy.  It was aimed at the angler and naturalist - not the ichthyological community.  The keys are laid out with lots of space, which I think is helpful; outline drawing illustrate form and diagnostic traits.  Once a specimen is identified, the key-er is directed to the species accounts which offer an outline drawing of the species and general information regarding identification, biology and ‘importance.’  I like the fact that here-in bony fishes are termed “true fishes.”  Probably even lampreys are annoyed by that.












The marine fishes of New York and southern New England
by John Treadwell Nichols and Charles M. Breder, Jr.  1927

New York: New York Zoological Society, 1927. 192 pp., illus. ; 26 cm. Hard cover.

Nichols and Breder give us a compact user friendly guide to fishes likely to be found in water from Nantucket Island westward to New York and above 25 fathoms.  There are 260 figures (and one map), thus I assume about 260 species are covered.  Some families have identification keys, for other one must scan the line drawings of each species covered.  Species accounts provide descriptive information and details of basic biology.

The fishes of San Salvador Island: The Bahamas
by Gary Kent Ostrander.  1997
Oklahoma State University (1997), 54 pages, illus.  Paper bound

Some 500 species of fishes are known from the Bahamas, but far few than that are likely to be encountered by a snorkeler or diver.  A book like this attempts to give some order other common or more visible species – rather than assist in identifying and separating fishes such as minute gobies and such.  About 50 fishes are illustrated with color photographs, in their natural habitat, just as they would be viewed by a diver.  Descriptive species accounts assist in making the identification and offer basic details of the natural history.  Inexpensively produced one wouldn’t feel all that bad about using it on a boat or dock.

Guide des Poissons Coralliens des Antilles
by Christine and Lionel Parle.  1996

PLB Editions, Abymes, Guadelupe, 1996. 216 pp., illus. in color, soft bound

ISBN 2-912300-00-2

This is a guide for divers and snorkelers – the kind of guide in which you search for the photograph that matches the individual you saw.  The body of the book contains numerous photographs of fishes – mostly in their natural habitat, with some brief descriptive comments.  There are a few keys to genera, mostly for game fishes, the type that somebody might actually have in hand while trying to identify.  The book has one of those ribbon book marks.

A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast fishes of North America
by C. Richard Robins, G. Carleton Ray, illustrated by John Douglass and Rudolf Freund.  1986
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, xi + 354 pp., 64 pp of plates (many color), text figs.
ISBN 0-395-39198-9 (soft cover) ISBN 0-395-31852-1 (hard cover in dust jacket)

Over 1000 species are covered in this field guide.  Describing and offering usable diagnoses for a fauna of this size is quite a challenge.  Perhaps this is why the fish guides in the Peterson series we so long in coming.  I haven’t ever tried to use this guide to identify fishes, but have used other more localized guides to the fauna at times.  The guide follows a pretty standard format for the Peterson guides.  Emphasis is placed on traits that can be observed rather readily rather than those that require handling a specimen.  Species accounts are limited to range, size and diagnoses; the plates are offered in black and white and color.







Peces marinos de Venezuela
by Benigno Román.  1980
Caracas: Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, 1980. 408 pp.,  illus.; 24 cm.  softbound

Several hundred species are illustrated (mostly line drawings) and keyed in this report.

Recreational Fisheries of Coastal New England

by Michael R. Ross, with contributions from Robert C. Biagi

The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst. 1991. viii + 278, illus. Cloth covered boards with DJ.

ISBN 0 87023 742 X

Extensive front matter in the book covers ecology and population dynamics, management and exploitation of coastal game fishes.  A section of species accounts details the specifics of key species.  Each is illustrated with a black and white drawing, with angling information, preservation and preparation tips given.

I generally don’t collect angling books, but this well-crafted one offers an overview of this aspect of fish biology.

A checklist of marine fishes of Beaufort, North Carolina

by Stephen Ross. Undated

Beaufort, North Carolina, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Reference Museum, 41 p., maps.

This a photocopy published check list, bound in a report folder (my copy is missing pages 1 and 2).  Fishes are listed according to habitat type (eel grass beds, salt marsh, etc.).  Maps are included, with some limited introductory material, and a brief bibliography. 







Fishes of Greece
by George Sfikas.  1976
Athens: Efstathiadis, 80 pp. (unnumbered), illus. in color.  Soft cover.

This is a multilingual picture book of fishes from the waters around Greece.  There is no front matter, no keys or maps, just very brief species accounts (in 8 languages) and a photograph or painting of a fresh specimen of the species in question.











Marine Fishes of Florida
by David B. Snyder and George H. Burgess.  2016
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ix + 373 pp., illus. in color, paperback
ISBN 1-4214-1872-X

Florida has a lot of coastline and extensive marine habitats.  A guide to the ichthyofauna of this region is offered here.  Front matter describes the region, it’s habitats and gives a primer on fish biology/ecology.  Hundreds of species (in 133 families) are covered in the taxonomic section.  The accounts are organized by family; each gives a list of the species in the region of interest with a general description of life history/biology.  Some species are covered separately in detail.  Color photographs, mostly of fishes in their natural habitats, illustrate representative forms.   The volume closes with a check-list of the fauna.  This is not trying to be an identification guide to the fauna, but rather a source of basic up-to-date information.

Common Marine Fishes of North Carolina

by Frank Joseph Swartz.  1992

Morehead City, NC. 34 pp., illus in black and white. Soft cover

This a picture guide to major types (sometimes at the family or genus level) of larger marine fishes found in the waters off North Carolina.  It’s illustrated with drawings and photographs mostly (if not all) drawn from older sources.  Key traits are noted, and basic biology is offered in short paragraphs for each type or species.  Aimed at the angler or commercial fisher.

Atlantic Fishes/Poissons atlantiques

by W.B. Scott and R. L. MacIntyre.  1972

Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Misc. Spec. Publ. 14, 13 p., illus

I’m not sure what the point of this little booklet is – perhaps it’s a teaser to promote Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of Canada by Liem and Scott (1966) (see above).  There’s really very little here. Sixteen species are illustrated described in a fairly brief paragraph (in English and French).  Except for Fundulus heteroclitus, all the species are larger species of commercial or sport value.

Common Canadian Atlantic Fishes

by W. B Scott and S. N. Messieh.  1976

Huntsman Marine Laboratory. 1976, softbound, 106 pages, illus.

This is basically an set of illustrated keys for the common coastal Fishes of eastern Canada.  About 90 species are keyed, discussed with brief species accounts, and illustrated (for the most part) is black and white drawings pulled from older works.

Atlantic fishes of Canada
by W. B. Scott and M. G. Scott. 1988
Canadian Bulletin of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences No. 219, xxx + 731 pp., illus. in black and white and color. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-8020-5712-8

This is an updated edition of Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of Canada, but the second author of that 1966 volume and his wife. Front matter includes regional oceanography and an update on the topic at hand. Species accounts are sometimes lengthy and detailed (description, habitat, life history, human interactions, systematic notes, etc.), others are very brief. The longer species accounts are illustrated, many of the shorter ones are not. Illustrations are variable, some outline drawings, some detailed drawings or paintings, some photographs. Some species have distribution maps. The species accounts are followed by identification keys, and 22 species illustrated in color.








Fishes of the Adriatic = Ribe Jadrana (English edition)
by Tonko Soljan.  1963.

Belgrade: NOLIT Pub. House; 1963. 428 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. Revised and enlarged for the English edition. Gray cloth covered boards.

This is an English translation of: Soljan, Tonko. 1948.  Ribe Jadrana. Zagreb:  Nakladni Zavod Hrvatske. 437 pp. (original language Serbo-Croation).  The main portion of the book is an illustrated key; diagramatic drawings illustrate key traits, with more portrait drawings given for most species keyed.  Part two of the work presents annotated accountings of two earlier surveys of Adriatic fishes - that of Carus (1889-1893) and Tortonese’s Proceedings.  An index references each species to all of these sections.

Saltwater fishes of Connecticut

by Keith Stewart Thomson, W. H. Weed, Algis G. Taruski and Dan E. Simanek.  1978

Hartford: State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut, Dept. of Environmental Protection, 1978 (2nd edition). Bulletin 105: viii, 186 pp, illus. Paperbound

Some 100 species found along the shores of Connecticut are included in the volume.  This is essentially the fishes of the Long Island Sound.  Identification keys are provided and species accounts typical of this type of work.  Black and white illustrations are drawn from various sources, particularly those from Smithsonian or other Federal Government publications.  There are no distribution maps.

Handguide to the coral reef fishes of the Caribbean : and adjacent tropical waters including Florida, Bermuda, and the Bahamas

by F. Joseph Stokes, illustrated by Charlotte C. Stokes.  1980

New York: Lippincott & Crowell.  1980.  160 p. : illus in color ; 20 cm.  Pictorial boards.

Here is a small guide aimed at the snorkeler / diver in the Caribbean.  It’s not a technical guide, but rather a family by family picture guide, with some 420 commonly seen species illustrated.  The heart of the book is the color paintings, which are good – somewhat stylized – and often showing fishes sitting or swimming among habitat.  Some information regarding range or habits for some species is presented is presented in an appendix at the end of the book so as to no distract from the fish pictures.  It’s a small and easily portable book.  My copy does not have dust jacket; I am guessing it didn’t come with one.

Fishes of the Caribbean Reefs, the Bahamas and Bermuda
by Ian F. Took.  1979
London, Macmillan, iv + 92 pp., illus. in color, map.  soft cover (1984 printing)
IBSN 0-333-25874-6

This is aimed directly at the snorkeling/diving crowd to give them a handy, compact guide to species commonly seen around the Bahamas and Bermuda.  The introduction give the basics of the region, fish identification, conservation and reef biology, and tips for snorkeling.  There are a few pages on coral identification.  The fish diversity section includes in situ shots of the fishes covered (photographs taken by the author), with a few basics of identification, biology and behavior (as would be of interest to a diver or snorkeler).  The book ends with a section on underwater photography, giving the authors techniques and equipment (always interesting to know).










A guide to fishes of the temperate Atlantic coast

by Michael J. Ursin.  1977
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1977. xviii + 269 p. : illus. 22 cm. 1st ed. Hardcover in dust jacket
ISBN 0-87690-242-5

Here’s a compact little guide to species that would be commonly encountered along the Atlantic Coast of North America.  Not a technical guide or revision as one might find in Bigelow and Schroeder (1953), more of a nature guide.  There’s a key to families, followed by about 200 species accounts.  Each account has the basics, plus a shaded area map and a black and white drawing.  The drawings are nice, but suffer a little from their small reproduction size.  And take a look at the dust jacket – the font used for the author’s name just screams 1970s.  This is a rather early addition to my fish book collection.

Fishes Trawled off Suriname and French Guiana.
by T. Uyeno (ed.), et al.  1983.
Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center (1983), Hardcover, cloth boards, issued in plastic sleeve

This is another in a series of fauna surveys by the Japan Marine Fishery Resource Center.  This one is the only one I have that is not from the Pacific. Over 400 species were collected – each gets a full-page species account with a color photograph of a freshly preserved specimen, and descriptive details and misc. remarks as appropriate.  I find the remarks interesting....some describe how their particular specimens don’t well match the standard descriptions of the species to which they are being assigned or discuss abundance or taxonomic tidbits.  A number of unidentifiable or undescribed species are included - and they trawled up on goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni - an odd creature to say the least.  Text is in Japanese and English.

Poissons coralliens des Antilles / Coral fishes of the West Indies
by Jean-Paul Vernoux, Michel Magras and Phiulippe Magras.  1988
Gustavia, Saint-Barthélemy: Editions du Latanier, 128 pp. : illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards

ISBN 2-9502284-2-9

The authors centered their attention on fishes around the islands St. Barth, St. Maartin and Anguilla (mainly the first mentioned).  Just over 100 species are covered.  Identification, using the book, is made by comparing your specimen to a series of photographs illustrating a species from each family or major body form.  Once the family is determined, you can turn to the species accounts.  Here the various fishes are illustrated with black and white photographs (or color photographs in a plate gallery).  The images appear to portray (mostly) freshly caught specimens.  A few details on identification and biology are given in the species accounts.  All the text is in French and English.












The observer's book of sea fishes (revised edition)
by Albert Laurence Wells.  1959
London, F. Warne. 159 pp., illus. in black and white and color, cloth covered boards with dust jacket

Here’s another in the Observer’s series.  One hundred and sixty four species are described, 125 are illustrated, about half in color.  A checklist of fishes one is likely to encounter around Britain leads into species accounts.  The taxonomic section is organized by family, with descriptive or natural history information offered as appropriate or known.  The plates are gathered in a single gallery in this my copy (1966 printing).  The plates are a little stylized by nice.





The pocket guide to saltwater fishes of Britain and Europe
by Alwyne Wheeler, illustrated by Colin Newman. 1992.

London: Dragon's World, 1992 176 p. : ill. ; 20 cm. Soft cover.
ISBN 1-85585-364-7

This is a general illustrated guide to common and notable marine fishes found in the Atlantic waters around Britain and Europe. With only about 150 species covered, one would be hard pressed to use this work in a serious study of diversity. However, it probably works well for anglers and other interested naturalists. Each species is illustrated in color with a painting, no maps.

Field Key to the Shore Fishes of the British Isles
by Alwyne C. Wheeler.  1994
Field Studies 8: 481-521, illus. in black and white.  Soft cover.

Just over 50 species are keyed in this report.  These are species that live in tide pools or exploit near shore waters at some point in their life cycle.  There is a key to families, and then keys within each family with multiple species.  They keys are illustrated and detailed.  A little descriptive or life history information is give for each species.






Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean / Poissons de l’Atlantique du Nort-est et de la Méditerranée
by Peter James Palmer Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.)
Paris: Unesco, illus in black and white, maps.  Glossy pictorial boards, issued without dust jackets
Vol. I.  1984.  pp. 1-510, ISBN  92-3-002215-2
Vol. II.  1986.  pp. 517-1007, ISBN 92-3-002308-6
Vol. III. 1986.  pp. 1015-1473, ISBN 92-3-002309-4

In 1979 Check-list of the fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean, CLOFNAM (edited by Hureau and Monad - see review above) was published.  This set is the logical extension of all that work.  A complete faunal guide to the region.  These three volumes were assembled by the editors who called upon the expertise of a couple dozen authorities on various groups of fishes.  Identification keys are presented.  Each species is illustrated with a black and white drawing of high quality.  Often properly supported works such as this offer the chance to have artists illustrate many species which other wise might never be illustrated.  These drawings usually become available for others to use.  A shaded area range map shows the distribution of each species.  It’s a large fauna to cover and the text is brief.  Diagnosis, habitat and distribution are given, along with taxonomic notes as appropriate.  The extensive literature cited of CLOFNAM is note repeated, and readers are referred to it for reference details.  There are numerous smaller or popular guides to this fauna, but this one is authoritative and complete.  Although the title and front matter are in French/English, the text is in English only.






Gulf of Mexico / Caribbean



Marine and Freshwater Fishes of Jamaica
by David Keller Caldwell.  1966
Bulletin of the Institute of Jamaica, Science Series No. 17, 120 pp., not illus.  Wrappers.

Extensive literature and museum research  and field collecting form the foundation of this report, which is essentially an annoated checklist of fishes known from Jamaican waters.  This ones starts with cephalochordates.  Front matter discusses the preparation of the report and various aspects of the biology or history of the ichthyofauna.






Food and Game Fishes of the Texas Coast

Compiled by Patricia Pew

Texas Game and Fish Commission, Austin. 1954 (November). Bulletin 33, 68 pages, illustrated. Paperbound. 15 x 23 cm

Another small book issued by a state agency to assist anglers in identifying (and we would hope) appreciating their native ichthyofauna. This one opens with some basic fish biology and fish identification. Then it launches into accounts of the basic biology of some 50-60 Coastal fishes from sharks to spiny-rayed fishes. The information is basic and concise, largely drawn from standard sources, which are found in a bibliography – always a nice addition to a book such as this to allow the interested reader to explore further.
The illustrations are black and white photographs or drawings.
There appear to be later editions of this guide; I don’t have any on had to compare to this early (earliest?) one.




Dr. Bob Shipp's guide to fishes of the Gulf of Mexico
by Robert L. Shipp.  1986 (2nd printing in 1988 with corrections)
Dauphin Island, AL, USA: Dauphin Island Sea Lab,. 256 pp.,  illus. in black and white and color
ISBN 0-938917-02-1

The author approaches this fauna from the perspective of an angler/eater of fishes and offers a guide that focuses largely (but not entirely) on fishes that might be caught commercially or on hook-and-line.  The audience is not ichthyologists or fishery workers, and this is not an identification guide to the ichthyofauna of the Gulf.  But that’s all fine...every book has its niche, and they need not be all the same.  About 185 species that would fall under the description above are covered.  A picture guide to families helps orient the reader.  The species accounts are detailed with information on identification, range, biology, behavior (as would interest an angler) and suitability for table fare.  The black and white figures are photographs, many taken by Shipp, or drawings drawn from the U.S. Fish Commission and Smithsonian’s extensive archives.  A couple galleries of color plates show living or freshly killed specimens.  The prose is folksy and informal, but the overall tone of the book is serious enough.









Pacific



Pacific Marine Fishes Vols. 1-10
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod (and others)  1972-1987
T.F.H. Publications.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jackets

This was an ambitious series of volumes issued over 15 years.  The stated (and unrealistic) goal was to provide a photograph of every known fish from the Pacific Ocean.  Each volume is focused on a particular region.  An introduction describes the region and may give some background on the author’s work there.  Families are introduced and described, each followed by photographs of fishes.  Each photograph is identified with a Latin name (and describing authority) and generally a locality and photographer.  There are 100s of photographs in each volume.
Through Book 9, the volumes are paginated sequentially (2534 pages in total).  The index of each volume indexes all the previous volumes – a useful touch.  Book 10 is paginated separately.
I don’t have any experience with this fauna, so can’t critique the accuracy of the identifications.  The authors do note in at least one volume that they have deposited voucher specimens at the Smithsonian Institution.
Authorship is generally by Burgess and Axelrod, although a few volumes are authored or co-authored by other authorities. Specifics noted below.
For the day, the quality of the photographs is good.  They are usually clear and focused.  A great many are clearly taken of specimens in phototanks or aquaria.  Some fishes are clearly stressed.  Many photographs do appear to be individuals on their natural habitats, a practice that photographic technology makes much easier today than in the 70s. Jack Randall’s many books come to mind as examples of a more modern approach to this type of presentation.
These books were issued with glossy pictorial boards (no dust jackets).  At least some volumes were issued with clear plastic ship covers branded with the TFH logo (don’t know if there are archival – probably not likely).
Anybody know why TFH didn’t use capital letters in the titles of their books?   Perhaps just a little bit of late 60s - early 70s groovy styling.
Specifics of volumes as I have them are as follows.

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 1

by Fujio Yasuda and Yoshio Hiyama, and Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1972
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1 -280, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 1:  Fishes of southern Japan and the Ryukyus (2nd edition)
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1973
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1 -280, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-123-1

There are at least two editions of Book 1.  The first (unstated first) edition lists two Japanese scientists as authors, Yasuda and Hiyama, on the cover and title page.  The subtitle, Fishes of southern Japan and the Ryukyus, is not seen on the cover or title page of the first edition. In the (stated) second edition,Yasuda and Hiyama, are mentioned in the Preface, but no longer appear as authors on the cover or title page; the subtitle is seen on the front and back cover and spine, but not on the title page.  Other than alterations to the title page and cover, the content of the two editions is nearly identical. The second edition is printed on heavier paper, making it thicker, and the cover of the first edition is slightly smaller.



Pacific Marine Fishes Book 2:   Fishes of southern Japan and the western Pacific (2nd edition)
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1974
T.F.H. Publications, pages 282-560, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-124-x

There are at least two editions of Book 2.  I only have a copy of the (stated) second edition to examine, but it appears, as with Book 1, Book 2 was originally issued with Yasuda and Hiyama listed as authors.


Pacific Marine Fishes Book 3:  Fishes of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the Maldive Islands, and Mombasa
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1973
T.F.H. Publications, pages 562-839, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 4:   Fishes of Taiwan and adjacent waters
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod, in collaboration with Shih-Chien Shen.  1974
T.F.H. Publications, pages 840-1110 , illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-126-6

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 5:   Fishes of Taiwan and adjacent waters
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod, in collaboration with Shih-Chien Shen.  1974
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1111-1381 , illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-127-4

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 6:  Fishes of Melanesia (from New Guinea and the Solomons to Fiji)
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1975
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1387-1654, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-128-2
Two different covers with slightly different titles.
The cover (front, back and spine) of one reads, “Fishes of Melanesia (from New Guinea and the Solomons to Fiji).”
The cover of the other reads, Book 6 Pacific Marine fishes”

The text blocks of the 2 versions appear identical, although the printing with the more complete title is slightly thinner and slightly smaller than the one with the abbreviated title.
The title page of both reads, “Fishes of Melanesia” without the “(from New Guinea to the Solomons to Fiji).

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 7:  Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1976
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1658-1925, illus. in color. Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-87666-129-0

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 8:  Fishes of California and western Mexico
by Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod.  1984
T.F.H. Publications, pages 1931-2198, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket

I have a copy of this volume inscribed by the second author to actor Jimmy Stewart.

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 9:  Fishes of Western Australia
by Gerald R Allen (Warren Burgess and Herbert R. Axelrod, eds.).  1985
T.F.H. Publications, pages 2207-2534, illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-86622-050-X

Pacific Marine Fishes Book 10:   Reef fishes of the Indian Ocean
by Gerald R. Allen and Roger C. Steene.  1987
T.F.H. Publications, 240 pp., illus. in color.  Hard cover, glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-86622-191-3

On the spine, this volume bears the words “Pacific Marine Fishes - Book 10," but reference to this Pacific Marine Fishes series is found no where else in the text or covers.  Burgess and Axelrod are not listed as authors or editors, and this volume is not paginated in sequence with the others.  That being said, it follows pretty much the same presentation as the nine previous volumes.  It is also the only volume with upper case letters used on the cover for the title.  This volume, at least in my experience, was the most difficult one in the series to find.

Eastern Pacific


Notes on Chilean Fishes, with Description of a new Species of Sebastodes
by James Francis Abbott.  1900
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia v. 51, 1900 (for 1899): 475-477 (separate), not illus.

Here is a small report on a small collection of fishes from Chile that ended up in the Stanford fish collection to evaluated by James Abbott.  He describes Sebastodes jenynsi (now considered to be a synonym of Sebastes capensis).  The work is typical characteristic of these short reports on collections from here or there - a list of species included, with notes on any unusual specimens, and descriptions of any species thought to be new.  The work is not illustrated, which can make it a little challenging to determine the identity of the new species without access to type specimens.  This copy is inscribed to Barton Evermann by Abbott.

Fishes of the Upper Newport Bay
by Gilbert W. Bane, illustrated by Anneka Laswson.  1968
Museum of Systematic Biology, Irvine, Calif., Research Series No. 3, 114 p. illus. in black and white, soft cover.

Newport Bay is a heavily impacted southern California waterway.  This small guide was produced to allow easy identification of its ichthyofauna.  A very brief introduction leads into a key to the species.  Over 50 species are covered.  Each species account spans 2 pages, one with an illustration (nicely done stippled dot drawings), the other with the account.  The latter include the basics of identification, range and misc.  No references are given, but a fold-out map is included.










Inshore fishes of California
by John L. Baxter, revised by John M. Duffy.  1974
Sacramento, California,  Dept. of Fish and Game.  1960 (fourth revision 1974). 77 pp., illus. 4th revision.  Small format, soft cover

The cover photograph of an angler surf fishing should clue in the reader that this small booklet is aimed at the angling crowd.  Some basic coastal oceanography and fish biology are found in the front matter.  Then about 30 inshore fishes that likely would be encountered in such an activity are covered.  A watercolor painting (presented in black and white) of each species is given (the artist isn’t listed that I can find, and I have seen these paintings elsewhere).  The species accounts give the basics regarding biology and fishing.  This is the type of booklet that a Game and Fish Agency would pass out to at state fair booths and such, or mail to interested parties (the back cover serves as a mailing label).  There's a small section on common tide pool fishes at the end.








Heterosomata to Pediculati from Panama to Lower California: scientific results of the second oceanographic expedition of the “Pawnee” 1926
by Charles M. Breder.  1936
New Haven, Conn. Bulletin of the Bingham Oceanographic Foundation 2(3): 56 p., illus., 1936.

This is one in a series of at least 3 monographs on the fishes collected during a Yale-Peabody Museum expedition.  The details of the expedition are contained in one of the earlier volumes (which I don’t have).  This is an annotated check-list.  Some taxa just listed with localities of collection, some are described or discussed in detail. Eight new species and a new genus are described.  There are quality black and white illustrations of 19 species, and identification keys for some families and genera.

Fishes of the Pacific Coast of Canada
by Wilbert Amie Clemens and G. V. Wilby.  1946.
Ottawa, Fisheries Research Board of Canada,1946. Bulletin 68, 368 pp. illus., colored frontis piece, 25 cm. Green cloth covered boards
Revised and reprinted in 1949.
Revised and reprinted in 1961 (reprinted in 1967). Bulletin 68, 443 pp. illus., colored frontis piece and 6 color plates, 25 cm. Green cloth covered boards in dust jacket

This compact guide to Pacific fishes is companion to the volumes covering the Atlantic Coast fishes - Leim and Scott (1966) and Scott (1988).  It opens with a history of ichthyology along the west Coast of North America, and a primer on fish identification (standard stuff).  A key to families is followed 253 species accounts.  Each account includes a drawing (apparently made for this work), descriptive and range data, plus a few miscellaneous comments as appropriate.  There are no maps.
I’ve never seen a copy with a dust jacket; I don’t know if it was issued with one.
A revised edition of this was printed in 1949.  This revised edition appears quite close to the 1946 version.  As near as I can tell the pagination is exactly same, and I find no references to the revision in the introductory material.  There a a couple differences on the title page -- it says "Revised Edition," and the notation "Illustrations by F. L. Beebe" is added below the author credits.  The 1949 edition is slightly thicker than the 1946 edition, but the page numbers are the same.  I'm guessing the revisions were limited to correcting typographical errors or other small issues.
A broader revision was printed in 1961, and reprinted in 1967.  As near as I can tell the 1961 and 1967 printings differ only in a few details on the title page, copyright page and the page following the copyright page.  I have not seen a copy of the 1961 printing with a dust jacket, but I assume it came with one.  The 1961 edition is much the same as the 1949 edition, although thicker (at 443 pages), with about 30 more species (281 total) and updated information.  Six color plates have also been added.  The 1967 printing has a dust jacket with neat stylized fish illustration that have a cool 60s feel (pictured here).

Peces de la Isla del Coco – Fishes

by Ginger Garrison

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), Santa Domingo, Costa Rica. 2000. 393 pp., color photographs.  Spiral bound, 14 x 22 cm.

ISBN 9968 702 36 6.

Isla del Coco is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Costa Rica. This guide cover the fishes found there. The text is offered in Spanish and English. Extensive front matter introduces the Island and its ecology, biogeography and such. The taxonomic section is organized in typical fashion with a photographs of the fishes covered and details of the biology, distribution and identification. Checklists for other vertebrate groups are included in the back matter.

This is a nicely presented guide of a place I’m unlikely to visit, but still fun to peruse the fauna.

Fishwatchers' guide to the inshore fishes of the Pacific Coast - First Edition
by Daniel W. Gotshall.  1977
Monterey, Calif.: Sea Challengers, 108 p. : illus. in color.  Soft bound
Library of Congress No. 77-73915

Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes - Completely revised second edition
by Daniel W. Gotshall.  1981
Los Osos, Calif.: Sea Challengers. 96 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Soft bound and cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-930030-31-1 (paperbound)

Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes - Third edition
by Daniel W. Gotshall.  1989
Monterey, Calif.: Sea Challengers, 96 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Soft bound.
ISBN0-930118-16-2

Here is a series of handy guides to common fishes that might be encountered by anglers, snorkelers or divers along the Pacific Coast of North America.
The first edition covers 93 species, the second 136 and the third 175 or so.  The format is similar among the editions.  Some introductory pages set the stage and encourage the user to enjoy our coastal waters.  Some basics of fish anatomy and identification follow.  The first two editions have written key to families with black and white drawings.  The third edition just has the drawings (which is just as well for this type of guide as in general one has to be holding the specimen to use a key).  The photography is excellent showing each species in its habitat.  The text is to-the-point – identification, natural history, size and range.
I have a hard bound (in dust jacket) copy of the second edition (the ISBN lists only the paperbound edition); I think this is the only Sea Challengers book I’ve seen in a hard cover.
There are fourth and fifth editions of this book – I don’t have a copies to compare.











Marine Animals of Baja California: A Guide to the Common Fishes and Invertebrates 
by Daniel W. Gotshall.  1987
Sea Challengers, Monterry, California.  1982, Second Edition (1987), 112 pages, illus. on color.  Soft bound
ISBN 0-930118-15-4

The title pretty much covers it.  This is a guide.  Common fishes (mostly) and some invertebrates are covered here.  Simple drawings of representative animals (fish families or invertebrate types) lead into basic species accounts.  A photograph of the species in its habitat is presented, along with a brief paragraph of basics - identification, habitat, range.  One hundred and twenty five fishes and 62 invertebrates are covered.  Sea Challengers published a number of similar guides to marine life, all I’ve seen are nicely done.








Pacific fishes of Canada
by John Lawson Hart.  1973
Ottawa, Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1973. Bulletin 180, ix + 740 p. illus. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

Dr. Hart offers us a guide to the Pacific fishes of Canada, updated and greatly expanded from that produced by Clemens and Wilby (1946, 1961).  The end sheets give us a map of the area and brief front matter sets the geographic and ichthyological stage.  Over 300 species are keyed, illustrated and provided with species accounts.  The accounts are mostly descriptive with little detailed information on the ecology or life history of the fishes.  A gallery of color plates is devoted to photographs of salmonids.  And black and white stippled drawings are excellent and produced for this volume (a nice feature is an appendix that gives locality data for the illustrated specimens. There is a gazeteer (another useful feature), glossary and lengthy bibliography.

The was a 2nd printing (hardcover) in 1975.  There's also a softbound edition (but I don't have a copy handy just now to report the details).






A descriptive catalog of the shore fishes of Peru
by Samuel Frederick Hildebrand.  1946
Washington, U.S. Govt. print. off., Bull. U.S. National Musuem, Bull. 189, 1946. 530 pp, 95 text figs., 24 cm.  Wrappers.

As wars raged in Europe and the Far East, Peru asked the US government for assistance in developing their off shore fisheries.  In 1941 a team from the US was sent to Peru to do just this.  One aspect of their work was to inventory the ichthyofauna.  Over 2000 specimens were eventually deposited at the Smithsonian from their efforts.  Hildebrand catalogs these specimens in this report – over 260 species are included, with some 51 described as new.  The catalog contains identification keys and illustrations many species (including the new ones).  The species accounts contain abbreviated synonymies, descriptive information, along with range and any taxonomic or nomenclatural issues of note.  Plus and index and bibliography.









Coastal fish identification:  California to Alaska
by Paul Humann and Neil McDaniel.  1996
New World Publications, 1996 205 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Stiff wrappers, spiral bound
ISBN 1-878348-12-4

The guides in the series are about helping the diver / snorkler identify what they are observing.  Close to 300 species are illustrated (with in situ color photographs), with text providing key details of identification range and biology.  Simplified drawings next to the photograph illustrate key features.  The photography is excellent, and the science is vetted by several prominent ichthyologists.







Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest
by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell.  1986
Madeira Park, BC, Canada: Harbour Publishing, xv + 224 pp., illus. in black and white and color.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-920080-75-8

Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest, Revised and Expanded Second Edition
by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell.  2010
Madeira Park, BC, Canada: Harbour Publishing, 352 pp., illus. in bla
ck and white and color.  Soft cover.
ISBN 1-55017-471-1

Here are two editions of non-technical guide to the fishes of the Pacific Northwest.  The author and photographer have years of experience with this fauna and present a popular guides to it.  The guide is not inclusive of the entire fauna but rather focuses on fishes that anglers, divers or tidepoolers are likely to see.  The first edition covers around 170 species, the second around 250.  The basics of biology, range and human interest are presented, a little more telegraphic in the second edition.  Excellent color photographs of fishes in the natural habitats illustrate both; more stayed, portrait-like black and white illustrations demonstrate representative species and key characters.  There are no distribution maps or identification keys as such.  Both my copies are author signed.







Certainly More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast: A Postmodern Experience
by Milton Love.  2011
Really Big Press. 2011, First edition, 672 pages, illus. Soft bound
ISBN 978-0-9628725-6-3

Here we have a telephone-sized book on Pacific Coast fishes.  I’m not exactly sure what “postmodern” means ("po-mo" as Moe Syzlak calls it), but this is a fun book.  Not a exactly a guide, but rather a natural history with a lot of human history and culture tossed in.  Nice photographs and paintings of the fishes with your basic natural history and odd tidbits thrown in as appropriate (or inappropriate).  In an appendix are a handful of fish-related word puzzles.....even though the author admits finding such puzzles “fainting irritating.”  I like that phrase — which describes exactly how I feel about word puzzles (fish related or not).  Anyway – the style here (as the title should imply) is casual and free — at the same time a tremendous amount of information is transmitted.



The early stages of fishes in the California current region
edited by H. Geoffrey Moser.  1996
La Jolla, CA: California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, 1996, 1505 pp., 1352 figs.  Cloth covered boards, probably not issued with dust jacket.
ISBN 0-93568-82-8

Larval fish ecology is important for various conservation and exploitation studies, and its interesting.  This work, years in the making, strives to document the larval fish fauna of the California current, providing the tools needed for identification.  The front matter is a primer on larval fish biology, structure and identification.  Species account follow – with excellent illustrations of larval fishes on one page, description and other data facing.  A great book for just thumbing through - the early life stages of even common fishes can be quite odd and unfamiliar.  Works like this represent an enormous amount of detailed work by skilled biologists and illustrators.




Pacific coast fish:  a guide to marine fish of the Pacific coast of North America
by Ron Russo, illustrated by Ann Caudle.  1990
Berkeley, California, Nature Study Guild, 107 pp., illus., map.  Soft cover, small format
ISBN 0-912550-19-8

Here we have a small pocket guide to commonly encountered, mostly larger or more visible Pacific Coast fishes ("fishes" not "fish").  Basic fish biology and marine ecology are covered in the introduction.  The identification tools are an outline drawing guide to families, elasmobranch egg cases and shark teeth.  One hundred or so species are illustrated and described with basics of their biology, range, etc. presented in telegraphic form.  The stippled drawings are quite nice, it’s a shame the size if reproduction is so small.










Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez:  The Rocky-shore Fishes of the Gulf of California
by Donald A Thomson, Lloyd T. Findley and Alex N. Kerstich.  1979
New York: Wiley.   xv + 302 pp., illus. in color and black and white.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-471-86162-6
University of Arizona Press Printing.  1987.  xviii + 302 pp., Soft Cover
ISBN 0-8165-0984-0

This is an attractive guide to fishes likely to be seen by snorkeling or diving on reefs in the Sea of Cortez.  Front matter introduces the region, with discussions of biogeography, niche and habitat.  A primer on fish identification leads into family-by-family accounts.  There is no key to species, but these generally require a dead or preserved specimen in hand; this volume emphasizes traits that can be used when viewing living fishes.  Species accounts include diagnostic details and information on habitat, biology and behavior.  Species covered are illustrated with black and white drawings or photographs, and there are several galleries of color plates - paintings and photographs of fishes, many in their natural habtiat.
The University of Arizona Press Printing followed the original printing by several years.  It is bound in soft cover (I don’t know if there was a hard cover version of this printing), and the preface contains a couple pages of corrections or updates.  The main text appears to be unaltered.



Reef fishes of the Sea of Cortez : the rocky-shore fishes of the Gulf of California (Revised Edition)
by Donald A. Thomson, Lloyd T. Findley and Alex N. Kerstich.  2000
Austin: University of Texas Press.  xx + 353 pp, 32 pp. of color plates.  Cloth covered boards, no dust jacket issued.  Soft bound edition has pictorial boards.
ISBN 0-292-78154-7 (hardbound); ISBN -292-78155-5 (soft bound)

The University of Texas Revised edition has updated checklists, photographs and accounts as necessary.  In the introduction to this edition, the authors bemoan the rapid degradation of habitats in the Sea of Cortez in the years since the original edition.  The hardcover version of this edition was apparently not issued with a dust jacket.  An editor from a large publisher of academic books told me once (around 2000) that omitting dust jackets was a cost cutting trend.  I’m glad to say that I’ve only encountered this a few times (I like dust jackets).








Hawaii / Oceana



Handbook of Hawaiian Fishes
by William A. Gosline and Vernon E. Brock. 1960

Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, ix + 372 pp., illus. in color and black and white, map on endsheets, Cloth covered boars in dust jacket.
Library of Congress No. 58-11692

Many hundreds of species are covered in this volume, which is built around a set of identification keys. Introductory chapters cover fish identificatoin, and the history, zoogeography, ecology of island habitats. Family and genus accounts include keys, illustrated where necessary, and brief species accounts. There are several color illustrations on the title page; the remaining illustrations are black and white. Not all species are illustrated. An appendix gives a checklist to the fauna.






A list of the fishes of Hawaii:  with notes and descriptions of new species
by David Starr Jordan and Eric Knight jordan.  1922
Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, Vol. X(1): 1-92, text figs, pls. 1-4.  Wrappers.

Dr. Jordan took advantage of a trip to Hawaii in 1921 to accumulate a collection of fishes.  These collections and others already available were used to construct this List of Fishes of Hawaii.  Nearly 600 species are listed.  Taxonomic/literature, habitat or occurrence details are given as appropriate.  A handful of species are illustrated with text figures derived from existing works.   Several new species are described.  These are illustrated on plates.  So ubiquitous was Jordan and Everman (1896-1900) at this time, Jordan and Jordan here feel all they have to do is reference the page number when referencing it (e.g., J & E, p. 62).  The junior author, Eric Knight Jordan (1903–1926) was D.S. Jordan’s son.  Perhaps wisely, he chose an academic field outside the one dominated by his father.  This was paleontology, in which he was considered a rising star when killed in a car accident at age 24.





Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes
by John E. Randall. 1985
Newtown Square, PA: Harrowood Books, 74 pp., illus. in color and black and white. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-915180-07-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-915180-29-4 (paper)
One hundred and seventy seven species are covered in this volume. That’s out of around 680 known from the region. This is a guide for snorkelers and divers rather than a complete checklist type guide or revision. Each species is illustrated with a color photograph of a freshly preserved specimen. The species accounts are brief and to the point – diagnostic information is given along with a few details of natural history or behavior. Common names are given in Hawaiian and English. An errata sheet was issued. Hard covered edition is illustrated.



Shore Fishes of Easter Island
by John E. Randall and Alfredo Cea.  2011
Univ of Hawaii Press. 2011, 164 pages, illus., cloth covered boards, in dust jacket
ISBN 978-0-8248-3564-4

The waters of the remote and isolated Eastern Island support some 164 shore and epipelagic fish species, with a 21.7% rate of endemism.  The volumes gives us a family-by-family, species-by-species accounting of the fauna.  Illustrated with color photographs throughout, some of living fishes in situ, other of freshly preserved specimens.  No identification keys, or range maps. Species accounts include the basics of recognition, range, taxonomy and misc.  Another fine offering from Dr. Randall and University of Hawaii Press.

Hawaiian Fishes - A handbook of fishes found around the islands of the Central Pacific Ocean
by Spencer W. Tinker, illustrated by Gordon S.C. Chun and Y. Oda

Tongg Publishing Company, Honolulu. 1944. 404 pp., 100s of black and white text figures, 8 color plates. Pictoral boards; if issued with DJ, I haven’t seen it. 16 x 24 cm

This classic guide was produced and published in Hawaii in 1944 at the height of the Second World War. It covers the fauna listed in the title in a pretty standard fashion – diagnostic details with bits on biology and distribution. Drawings are very good, many redrawn from earlier sources.




Hawaiian Reef Fish
by Astrid Witte and Casey Mahaney.  1998
Hawaii: Island Heritage Publishing, 139 pp., illus. in color.  Spiral bound in pictorial boards
ISBN 0-89610-108-8

First off, it’s “Fishes,” not “Fish.”  Beyond that, what we have here is a photoguide to commonly seen Hawaiian reef fishes.  The target audience would be snorklers and divers.  The diversity is organized by physical features that allow visual identification, rather than ordered in a phylogenetic fashion.  So we have sections on “large ovals and discs” or “reddish, bigeyes.”  This is akin to the wildflower guides that I use that are ordered by flower color, rather than family.  Perfectly functional, when identification is your goal.  The photography is excellent.  The text, again, crafted towards the audience with observations on activity patterns, best ways to photograph and approachability.  Not a technical revision or guide, but almost any work that broadens the accessibility of this fauna is a good thing.

Indo-Pacific / Western Pacific



A List of Fishes of the Palao Islands

by Tokiharu Abe.  1939

Japan Society for the Promotion of Scientific Research, Palao Tropical Research Station Studies. 1939. 4: 523 - 583, not illus.

This is a list of some 376 species collected by the author in the waters around the island of Palao in the Winter of 1936 - 1937.  The specimens were later deposited at Tokyo Imperial University.  As I’ve said before, it all starts with a checklist.
This particular copy is inscribed by the author to A.W.C.T. Herre; at some later point Herre passed it on to Earl Herald.  It bears Herre’s handstamps, his signature under and inscription to Herald.







Fishes of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean

by Gerald R. Allen and Roger C. Steene

Christmas Island Natural History Association, Christmas Island. 1988. 199 pp., 500 figures (mostly color photographs). Cloth covered boards with DJ.

ISBN 0 951210 1 3

This book consists of introductory front matter discussing the zoogeography, physical conditions, etc. of Christmas Island, followed by a gallery of 100s of species recorded there by the authors. Each family is introduced, but individual species are not discussed in any detail. The photographs are excellent, mostly of individuals in their natural habitat. A checklist of sport fishes and all fishes known from the island completes the book.

Reef Fish Identification Tropical Pacific
by Gerald Allen, Roger Steene, Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach.  2005 (4th printing 2010)
New World Publications, 470 pp, illus. in color, maps
ISBN 978-1-8783348-36-4

Over 2000 species are covered is the compact guide.  The coverage is eastern Pacific, the water around Australia and Indonesia,westward toward the Picarn Islands and northward up towards Japan.  The layout is similar to other books by these authors/this publisher.  A shape guide to families allows narrowing of the fish one seeks to identify.  With a general idea in hand, the identifier moves to an appropriate section of the book and scans the photographs.  The photographs are excellent and portray fishes in situ.  This is not always the best choice for identification, but shows the creatures in their natural state, keeping them connected to the wild in the users mind (I find it helpful from time to time to be reminded that fishes are not just specimens in jars or in a pan or aquarium - they are objects of natural history).  With so many species to cover, the images are small (6 to a page).  Diagnostic traits are indicated on some photos.  The caption for each photograph is brief - identification and range.












Common Reef Fishes of the Maldives. Part 1, 2 and 3
by Charles Anderson and Hafiz Ahamed. 1987 - 1992
Novelty Printers & Publishers, Republic of the Maldives.  Hardcover in glossy pictorial boards.
Part 1. 1987, 83 pp., illus.

Part 2. 1989, 89 pp., illus.

Part 3. 1992, 85 pp., illus.

ISBN 99915-3-012-6

This three volume set illustrates reef fishes that would be commonly encountered while diving or snorkeling around the Maldive Islands.  The authors estimate that some 1000 species might be observed around these reefs.  These 3 volumes cover 230 of them.  There are brief introductory remarks, and the body of the text contains excellent photographs of fishes (in their natural habitats), with an out-line of details such names (in several languages, food, habitat and distribution). Each volume is arranged taxonomically on it own, and the first two (at least) have each been reprinted several times.



Notes on a collection of fishes from Java, made by Owen Bryant and William Palmer in 1909, with description of a new species
by Barton A. Bean and: Alfred Cleveland Weed.  1912
Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum 42 (no. 1919): 387-611, illus. 1912.

Bean and Weed give us an annotated checklist of fishes collected in the waters around Java.  Although not explicitly stated in the brief introduction, this is primarily a marine fish collection.  As I scan the taxa listed (182 species in 106 genera by Bean and Weed’s count), I find no obvious freshwater forms.  Pretty standard type of report of this type – an annotated list, with details added to certain species as the authors though necessary.  The photographic plates are of fish scales.  My copy is from the library of George S. Myers – it bears his handstamps on the cover (one from when he was at the Smithsonian, and another from when he was at the California Academy of Sciences); his inked signature also appears on the title page.  He also made one annotation: on the species account for Agonostomus bryanti sp. nov., he wrote “This species should be assigned to the genus Carassiopa (Ogilby. Proc. Linn.Soc. N.S. Wales. xxi. 1897, p. 732).  This species is presently considered to be a synonym of Hypseleotris cyprinoides (Valenciennes 1837).

Bijdragen tot de ichthyologie van de Indonesische Archipel Verzameld en bewerkt uit het Natrrukundig tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie I - XXII, 1851 - 1861
by Pieter Bleeker, edited by W. H. Lamme, Introduction by M. Boseman.  1972
Vaals - Amsterdam, A. Asher & Co., 1972. 4 vols. illus.  Cloth covered boards, issued without dust jackets far as I know
ISBN 90-6123-246-5

Pieter Bleeker (1819 - 1878) was a Army physician assigned to the Dutch East Indies, and there took up ichthyology in his spare time.  He was enormously productive producing 100s of papers on the fishes of the region.  He published many of his papers in a scientific journal he founded and he edited in Batavia.  This four volume set brings together all his fish papers from this journal.  Most of the papers are unillustrated, there are a few fold out plates.  Anyone working with fishes of the region (particularly marine fishes) will run up against taxa described by or discussed by Bleeker.  Gathering and reprinting all these manuscripts must have been an enormous help to Indo-Pacific fish taxonomists.  Presently, I suppose all these works are all available as pdf files online, but it wasn’t always that way.  We used to trade reprints and travel to museums or libraries to consult rare or odd publications and make photocopies to take home.  286 of Bleeker’s papers are gathered here...that’s a few more than were listed by Weber and De Beaufort in their 1911 summary of Bleeker’s life and career (in Fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago, Vol. 1, Leiden).  The good folks at Asher and Co. of Amsterdam reprinted a number of important natural history works in the 1960s and early 1970s.






De indische zeevisschen en zeevisscherij
by Hendricus Christoffel Delsman and J.D. F. Hardenberg. 1934
Batavia-Centrum : N. V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij Visser & Co., 1934., 388 pp., 272 text figures. Several color plates.

I love finding odd books in languages I don’t read.  And I don’t read (much) Dutch.  Published in Batavia, I imagine this book was aimed at the serving people in the Dutch East Indies.  There is a lengthy introduction to fish biology and fishery exploitation in the waters around the East Indies.  This is followed by a taxonomic section with a guide to species starting with sharks.  There are identification keys for some families or genera.  Numerous illustrations of fishes are drawn from various sources.  The several color plates portray colorful species – they are nicely done and may have been produced for this volume, I don’t recognize them from any other source.

Poissons de l'Ile Maurice

 by Alain Cornic.  1987

Stanley, Rose Hill, Ile Maurice:  Editions de l'océan Indien.  1987. 335 pp., illus. softcover

Here is an illustrated guide to the fishes of the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.  A short introduction leads into family-by-family species accounts.  Species are illustrated mostly in color with a mix of shots of aquarium held specimens, preserved specimens and specimens in their natural habitat.  There are no keys or other identification aides, and the species are presented, oddly enough, alphabetically by family.





A colored atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon. Volume one - Fishes
P. E. P. Deraniyagala. 1952
Colombo: Ceylon Govt. Press, 1952. 147 pp., 34 color plates, text figures.  Hardcover

Back when the field of zoology was populating by actual zoologists and scientists and not geneticists and statisticians we have today, this is the type of book that an ichthyology would enjoy having on his or her shelf.  This irrespective whether that ichthyologist worked with the fishes of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).  It’s a nice book with a classic feel.  Oblong in format, this volume presents 34 plates worth of colored images of freshwater and marine fishes from Sri Lanka (artwork by the author), are one fish per plate.  The illustrations are a little stylized, but very pleasing and accurate (and far better than I could EVER do).  The text contains more illustrations and some identification keys and the basics on the biology of the fishes contained.  My copy does not have a dust jacket – don’t know if it was issues with one.

Koraalvissen Indische Oceaan
by Dieter Eichler and Ewald Linke.  1995
Breda, Netherlands, Vipmedia, 368 pp., illus. in color.  Glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 90-70206-04-8

This the Dutch version of Korallenfische Indischer Ozean (Jahr Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, 1994).  Some 900 species are illustrated in color photographs.  Tin the pictures, the fishes are captured in their natural habitat.  Just a few details of the species range and biology are given next to the photograph.  The introductory section is brief, this book is mainly about presenting the diversity.








Koraalvissen Centrale Indo-Pacific
by Dieter Eichler and Robert F. Myers.  1997
Breda, Vipmedia, 489 pp., illus. in color.  Hardcover pictorial boards, no dust jacket.
ISBN 90-70206-54-4

Initially published in German as Korallenfische Zentraler Indopazifik (Jahr Verlag GmbH, 1997), this is a companion volume to Koraalvissen Indische Oceaan by Eichler and Linke (1995) (see above).  Excellent photography presenting some 1300 species.











FAO Species Identification Sheet for Fishery Purposes:  Eastern Indian Ocean (fishery area 57) and Western central Pacific (fishing area 71)
by Fischer, W. and P.J.P. Whitehead (eds).  1974
Rome : F.A.O. of the U.N., 4 volumes in binders, unpaginated, illus. with line drawings and maps.

The FAO issued a series of these works, intended to assist managers and fisheries works in identifying the major components (fishes and in some works also invertebrates) of defined regions.  These sets came in 3-ring binders, which could be easily augmented/updated and were intended for lab or field use.  This 4 volume set covers the fauna in the waters centered around Australia.  For each family (they are arranged alphabetically) there is an introduction with a key.  Basics are discussed and a species list given. Each species of note (and rarer or smaller species not of fishery import are not included) is given a sheet (front and back), on which information is presented in a standardized format.  A black and white drawing and range map are offered.  The text covers identification, similar species, range and fishery import.  This particular set includes 324 species in 48 families (when issued), and is printed on fairly heavy stock.  The editor notes that additional sheets would be issued as appropriate.   I’m not sure if additional sheets ever were produced.   Long out-of-print (as paper editions), the sets in the FAO Species Identification Sheets series are now available as pdf files or on DVDs.  But you can’t put a pdf file on your bookshelf, and a DVD book is pretty uninspiring.












Fishes from Formosa and the Philippine Islands
by Henry Weed Fowler and Barton A. Bean.  1922
Proceedings of U.S. National Museum 62(2): 1-73, illus. with black and white text figures.  Wrappers.

The authors here document fishes from two collections of fishes, mostly marine, from the Philippines and Formosa.  Generally, each species is described with notions of the specimens and their origin.   Some descriptions are quite brief, others more lengthy.  A few new species and a couple new genera are described.  There are a handful of black and white drawings that do not appear to be Fowler’s; they must have originated from the Smithsonian.










Coastal fishes of New Zealand:  a diver's identification guide
by Malcolm Francis.  1988
Birkenhead, Auckland: Heinemann Reed, 63 pp of text, color plates.,, maps.  Soft cover.
ISBN 0-7900-0013-X

One hundred and forty-six fishes are illustrated and discussed in this guide.  Introductory sections set the stage for New Zealand’s inshore fish fauna.  Species accounts are to-the-point, including information of distribution, biology and behavior (especially as would be observed by a diver).









Fish of the Maldives (English Edition)
by Andrea Ghisotti.  2000
Bonechi, Florence, Italy, 128 pp., illus. in color. Pictorial stiff boards.

ISBN 88-8029-657-4

This is a fairly touristy photo guide to Maldive fishes.  The introduction includes background, maps and habitat photographs. Family accounts include fine color photographs of fishes in their natural habitat.  Natural history information is sparse – presented mostly in the family introductions.  About 325 species are illustrated.  A number of reef invertebrate groups are also illustrated and discussed.

The Fishes of Rottnest Island
By Barry Hutchins.

Creative Research, Perth, Australia. 1979. 103 pp., illus. Softcover.

ISBN 0 908469 00 4

Rottnest Island is off the southwest coast of Australia. It ichthyofauna consists of some 350 species of tropical and cooler water species.

This book offers a concise guide to the families found around the island and the species commonly encountered by divers. 160 species are covered, about half that are illustrated with good quality color photographs. Each family is briefly defined and described; likewise each species covered is provided with a quick description and distribution.  A nicely constructed and presented guide.

The book concludes with a checklist of all 350 species known from the island’s waters.

I like finding books like this (this was an ebay find). I imagine it had a fairly small print run, and is scarcely seen outside of Australia. And even if I never visit Rottnest Island in person, I enjoy reading the introduction to it and scanning its fauna.





Taiwan yen an yü lei t'u chien (I) = Coastal fishes of Taiwan (I)
by Kaun-hsiung, Chang, Kuang-chao Shao and Sin-che Lee.  1979
Taipei : Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, 150 pp., illus. black and white and color.  Cloth covered boards
As we know, I like books in languages that I don’t read.  Here’s a guide to the near shore fishes of Taiwan.  Fifty-six species are covered.  They are illustrated with color plates (photographs of freshly preserved specimens), and each has a species account.  There is also a 50 page introduction to the fauna and fish biology.  My copy does not have a dust jacket; I don’t know if it came with one.









Southeast Asia Tropical Fish Guide
by Rudie Herman Kuiter and Helmut Debelius.  1994
Tetra Press, 321 pp., illus. in color.  Glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket

This is another photo book of diversity, appreciated by divers and snorklers and keeper of reef tanks.  As identification guides, I would guess, books like this would be useful if one has a really good memory of what one saw while diving, or it one brought back photographs to compare to those in a book like this.  I simply enjoy the stroll through the diversity.  A broad are is covered here (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Andaman Sea), with some 1000 photographs presented, with the fishes described and brief notes given on range and behavior.  The photographs, portraying the fishes in their natural habitat, are excellent.  I find it interesting to thumb through guides such as this and check the describing authorities – in this fauna – at least for the visible members, most of the descriptions date from the 1800s.  Ichthyologists such as Quoy & Gaimard, H. Peters, Cuvier, Bloch, Bleeker, Lacepede and on and on.







A photographic guide to sea fishes of Australia
by Rudie Herman Kuiter.  1997
Sydney, New Holland. 144 pp., illus. in color.  Soft cover
ISBN 1-86436-220-0

Several hundred species are covered in this small pocket book.  A general and brief introduction is followed by the photographic guide.  Each species included is illustrated with a color photograph of an individual in its natural habitat.  The text includes basics of identification, range and biology.








Fishes of the South China Sea
Kenichiro Kyushin, Kunio Amaoka, Kazuhiro Nakaya, et. al.  1982.
Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Group (1982), cloth bound, no dust jacket, but issued with clear plastic cover

There is one a series of elaborately produced books from the Japanese Marine Fishery folks.  These are faunal surveys as result of concentrated collecting in a specified area – this one, the South China Sea.  Rational exploitation of a resource, requires an understanding of that resource – or – so it says in the introduction.  Front matter sets the stage with a map and statistics.  The bulk of the volume is species accounts, with one page per species. A color photograph of each species (freshly preserved) is provided.  Descriptive features are given along with distribution and general remarks, which might include taxonomy or habitat.  These books are just fun to flip through and appreciate diversity or test one’s ability to recognize families or genera from the images.  Text is in Japanese and English.  My copy is signed by author Kazuhiro Nakaya.




Zhongguo hai yang yu lei yuan se tu ji - Atlas of the Sea Fishes of China in Live Colour Volume 1.

Institute of Oceanology Academia Sinica. 1992
Xin hua shu dian Shanghai fa xing suo fa xing 1992, unpaginated (about 100), cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 7-5323-2605-5

This oblong volume gives us 201 important, common or economic species found in Chinese waters.  The color paintings are lifelike, if a little flat and stylized.  This is really just a picture book, the sketchiest details are offered (abbreviated and translated into English in the back).  I’ve only seen Volume 1; there is a Volume 2 (at least).

The Larvae of Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Fishes

by J. M. Leis and D. S. Rennis

New South Wales University Press, University of Hawaii Press, The Australian Museum. 1984. 269 pp., illus with drawings. Cloth covered boards in DJ

ISBN 0 8248 0910 6

An introduction to larval fishes opens this volume, followed by family by family accounts with descriptions, drawings and tables that will allow a reader (with some practice) to identify larval fishes.





The larvae of Indo-Pacific shorefishes
Jeffrey M. Leis and T. Trnski.  1989

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press in association with the Australian Museum, c1989. xii, 371 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. Hard cover in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-8248-1265-4

Larval fishes often look very little like their adult relatives.  Working with them is a challenge, but is an important part of understanding fish ecology.  These wonderfully illustrated books give a peek into this specialized world.

Tosa oyobi Kishu no gyorui (Description of the fishes from the provinces of Tosa and Kishu, Japan)
by Toshiji Kamohara. 1950.

1950, 289 pp. + index, illus, hard cover, in dj

I don’t read Japanese (even a little), so a critique of the content of this book is beyond me. However, I have rarely been reluctant to acquire a book in a language I don’t read...

The book contains an account of the fish fauna of Tosa and Kishu, many species are illustrated with black and white drawings; these appear to have been gathered from various sources. I don’t see anything that appears to be identification keys. My copy has a dust jacket, and is signed by the author in English. The paper quality is a little rough – perhaps a sign of post war frugality.




Tropical Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef
by Tom C. Marshall.  1966
Sydney:  Angus and Robertson, 239 pp., illus. in black and white and color.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
Library of Congress No. 66-20898

This is pretty much a picture book of the fishes of the Great Barrier Reef – over half of the volume is devoted to plates - about half color, about black and white.  An introduction by Gilbert Whitley describes the habitats and generalities, which leads into the plates.  The color plates are excellent (a little flat perhaps) rendered by George Coates.  The black and white plates were drawn from a variety of sources.  Following the plates, each of the 497 species rendered are described very briefly.  There are no keys or other identification aids, and no maps.  The introduction includes photographs of fishes hanging on lines or sharks with large gaff hooks in their mouths — my least favorite kind of fish photograph.

Coastal Fishes of Southern Japan

by H. Masuda, C. Araga and T. Yoshima

Tokai University Press, Tokyo. 1976. 379 pp., of which 142 are color plates (photographs), blue cloth in cloth slip- case, DJ.

This is one of the a number of beautifully illustrated faunal catalogs produced in Japan. Even if you never visit this fauna, books like this are fun to peruse. All species covered are illustrated with at least one color photograph; in the text section, each species is diagnosed, with range and a few other details of biology given. 1252 species (1445 illustrations) are covered; 151 new to the area and several newly described in this volume.

Text is in English and Japanese. With preface by John Randall.







The marine and fresh water fishes of Ceylon
by Ian S. R. Munro. 1955

Canberra, Dept. of External Affairs, 1955. xvi, 351 p. illus. 26 cm. Hard cover in dust jacket

Here’s another guide by Ian Munro of Indo-Pacific Fishes, this one on the fishes found on and around Sri Lanka.  Books like this bring together the often scattered or old or hard to find and expensive literature into a compact package or managers, fishers, biologists.  In the years before the internet, this was important (actually still is).  This volume has identification keys and very basic, mostly descriptive species accounts – not a lot of life history or ecology presented.  56 rather crowded, black-and-white plates complete the volume.

The Fishes of New Guinea

by Ian S. R. Munro.  1967

Department of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries, Port Moresby, New Guinea. 1967. 650 pp., 78 black and white plates, 6 colored plates. Faux leather boards, with DJ.

This book was offered to bring together in one volume an overview of the ichthyofauna of Guinean waters by gathering together and meshing the scattered literature on the region.  This is not so much a revision or comprehensive discussion of the fauna, as it is a guide to assist fishery workers, biologists and others.  Each species comes with diagnostic details, a brief synonymy and range. I dentification keys are provided. The color plates are nice quality.  The black and white drawings appear to have been drawn from various other sources.

Micronesian Reef Fishes:  A Practical Guide to the Identification of the Coral Reef Fishes of the Tropical Central and Western Pacific
by Robert F. Myers.  1989 (first edition)  
Barrigada, Territory of Guam, U.S.A.: Coral Graphics. vi + 298 pp., 144 pp. of plates, black and white text figs., maps on end sheets.  Glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket issued.
ISBN 0-9621564-1-8 (hard bound); ISBN 0-9621564-0-X (paper back)

Micronesian Reef Fishes:  A Practical Guide to the Identification of the Coral Reef Fishes of the Tropical Central and Western Pacific
Barrigada, Territory of Guam, U.S.A.: Coral Graphics. vi + 298 pp., 144 pp. of plates, black and white text figs., maps on end sheets.  Faux leather covered boards in dust jacket
by Robert F. Myers.  1991 (second edition)
ISBN 0-9621564-3-4 (hard bound); ISBN 0-9621564-2-6 (paper back)

This was quite an ambitious undertaking on the part of the author.  The geographic span of this volume is immense, and it covers habitat that contains some of the highest fish diversities.  Well over 1000 species are included.  Detailed introductory chapters define and describe the region in various lights - zoogeographic, oceanographic, tectonic, ecological, etc.  The physical evolution and ecology of coral reefs is described as well.  The taxonomic section fills the majority of the book.  It provided identification keys (illustrated when necessary); I can imagine crafting keys to specious groups such as gobies and blennies was quite a challenge.  One hundred and forty-four pages of color images (5 or 6 images per plate)  portray habits, and living fishes in their natural habitats (many of the photographs provided by John Randall).  A large number of black and white drawings illustrate diagnostic differences or whole specimens.  The species accounts are quite brief - the basic descriptive details and distribution.  The sheer amount of information tucked into the relatively small volume is very impressive.
There are two editions of this book, according to a notice on the copyright page of the 2nd, it differs from the first only in a few taxonomic updates, corrections of typographical errors or fish misidentifications.






The Larve of Temperate Australian Fishes:  A Laboratory Guide for Larval Fish Identification
by F. J. Neira, Anthony G. Miskiewicz and Thomas Trnksi.  1998
Nedlands, University of Western Australia Press.  xix + 436 pages, illus. in black and white.  Soft bound
ISBN 1-876268-17-4

Temperate waters of Australia comprise the southern coast.  These authors (working with a number of collaborators) offer a guide to the larval marine fishes of this region.  Extensive front matter instructs the reader on the methods of this rather specialized branch of ichthyology.  Family accounts include representative species and genera.  Each species account contains details of reproductive biology, with descriptions of the various stages, and a series of excellent drawings showing the early life history stages.






Fishes and Shells of the Pacific World
by John Treadwell Nichols and Paul Bartsch.  1945
New York The Macmillan Company, 201 pp. 83 text figs., 16 pls.  Map on end sheets.  Cloth covered boards, issued with a dust jacket.

  This volume is part of a series on the natural history and ethnology of the Pacific world; the fishThe Infantry Journal (I haven’t seen such a copy).
/ shell tome published in 1945.  The preface mentions that the series was directed at “persons whose business holds them in far and unfamiliar waters.”  It would provide learning opportunities and recreation for the millions of Americans far from home fighting in World War II or supporting the effort.  The copyright page notes that the book was published for limited distribution in
The first 118 pages are devoted to Indo-Pacific fishes, authored by J.T. Nichols.  This section is illustrated with simple line drawings of representative species, and details biology mostly at the generic and family level.
The remainder of the book is devoted to molluscs, as are 16 black and white plates.









Fishes of Japan:  Illustrations and descriptions of fishes of Japan
by Yaichiro Okada.  1955
Tokyo, Maruzen, 434 pp., 28 page index, illus. in black and white, hard cover in dust jacket

Fishes of Japan:  Illustrations and descriptions of fishes of Japan
(revised edition)
by Yaichiro Okada.  1966
Tokyo, Uno Shoten, 458 pp, 16 page index, illus. in black and white.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

This is a straightforward accounting of the freshwater and marine fishes of Japanese waters – the title captures it, illustrations and descriptions.  The front matter is a half-page introduction, the remainder of the book comprises species accounts.  Each account occupies a single page (there are around 400 total species covered), with an illustration, description and habitat.  There are no maps or identification keys.  The illustrations come in the form of photographs or drawings; they appear to be drawn from a variety of sources.  This volume was produced in English with the assistance of Carl L. Hubbs.  The first edition covers 391 species, the revised edition 415.  Like many books published in Japan, the second edition comes bound with a ribbon bookmark.











Sea Anglers' Fishes of New Zealand
by Arthur W. Parrott.  1957
Hodder and Stoughton, 176 pp., color frontispiece, black and white text figs. and plates, hard cover in dust jacket

Fifty-six species of marine fishes found in waters around New Zealand are covered in this small guide.  Each is illustrated with a black and white drawing (derived from various sources) (black and white plates mostly portray fishing scenes).  The species accounts (not sure how they are ordered - not taxonomically) give basic description of the fishes and their biology natural history.  The color frontispiece shows a triglid fish (sea robin) and is repeated on the dust jacket.  This volume is one in a series of like titles by this author.






Big game Fishes and Sharks of New Zealand
by Arthur W Parrott.  1958
Hodder and Stoughton, 127 pages, color frontispiece, black and white text figs., black and white pls., hard cover in dust jacket

Another titles in this author’s series of popular books in Australian/New Zealand fishes and game fishes.  This one covers sharks and the tuna/sword fish crowd.  Each species gets a black and white drawing (pulled from various sources); photographic black and white plates show people with their ‘trophy’ catches.  A color frontispiece (repeated on the dust jacket) portrays a somewhat fanciful scene of a swordfish goring a shark.  The species accounts give basic information on identification and natural history/biology of the fishes in question.  An appendix gives fishing records for various species.









Sea anglers' fishes of Australia
by Arthur W Parrott.  1959
Melbourne, Hodder and Stoughton,  208 pp. illus. in black and white, color frontispiece .  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

Eighty-two species of marine fishes that frequent Australian waters are covered here.  Emphasis is on those species which will be encountered by anglers.  The front matter include tidbits about Australian fishes and fish identification.  There’s also a section on the nomenclature of fishes.  I’ve noticed the angling crowd and aquarium hobbyists are often frustrated, annoyed or confused with the conventions of scientific names.  It’s nice to have this explained to the lay audience, as the author does here.  The species accounts are illustrated with drawings or photographs drawn from a variety of sources; the text describes the species in question and briefly discusses angling matters for it.  A gallery of black and white, photographic plates show representative fishes mostly in association with anglers (i.e., dangling off the end of fishing poles).





Commercial Marine Fishes of the Central Philippines (Bony Fishes)
by Norbert Rau and Anke Rau.
Eschborn, 623 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover
ISBN 3-88085-089-5

It’s useful to look to the goals and audience of a particular book when crafting a review.  And, although this is usually obvious, it’s also nice to get the authors’ perspective in their preface or introduction.  This volume is intended as a general guide / check-list to exploited fishes in Philippine waters, not a natural history or a revision.  A primer on fish identification opens the volume, with an outline drawing identification guide to families.  The taxonomic accounts are presented in alphabetical order by family.  The data provided for each family and for each species is entirely descriptive.  There are no maps or information on range, natural history or fishery import.  The authors wish to assist field worker and fishers to identify creatures in their nets - once identification is accomplished the more synthetic sciences can follow (conservation, ecology, taxonomy, management, etc.).  Each species gets a stippled dot drawing skillfully rendered by the second author.
The acknowledgment section reads like a who’s-who of marine fish systematists active in the 70s and 80s.






Handbook of the food fishes of the Gulf of Thailand
by Robert Rees Rofen.  1963
La Jolla: University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Special Report No. 1,  ii + 236 pp.,
illus. in black and white.  Soft cover.

About 130 species of food fishes from the Gulf of Thailand are covered in this book.  Many are illustrated with black and white photographs.  In the text, descriptive and diagnostic details are given, along with fishery uses and a series of references for each species.  The goal behind this inexpensively produced volume was to offer a basic guide to common species for fishers, managers and interested parties.  There are no maps or identification keys.







Checklist of Fishes Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Capricornia Section
by Barry C. Russell.  1983
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority,, Mackay: 184 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Soft bound
ISBN 0-642-52313-4

The Capricornia Section lies to the southern end of Great Barrier Reef.  This work is an annotated check list of fishes collected from these waters.  Introductory sections cover the history of exploration of the region and biogeographic considerations (with maps and tables).  The list itself is long, with just a comment or two given to species as appropriate.  These may be taxonomic or distributional in nature.  About 50 color photographs of fishes or habitat are presented.  A lengthy bibliography closes the volume.  Interestingly, no common names are given for species in the checklist.  As often as not, common names are offered, even if they are created on the spot.  Not a guide, but a foundation for further work.









Reef Fishes of Hong Kong
by Yvonne Sadovy and Andrew S. Cornish.  2000
Hong Kong University Press (2000), Hardcover, 344 pages
ISBN 962-209-480-5

Here is a picture guide to the reef fishes found around Hong Kong.  The introduction includes details of the habitat and region, physical oceanography, where to find fishes and conservation issues.  The species accounts are organized taxonomically by family, each with a color photograph (generally of freshly preserved specimens, sometimes living individuals in habitat), and contains a basic accounting of its identification and biology.  The account for each family generally contains more detailed information about the natural history of the group.  There is a bibliography and a checklist of species known from the area.  Bound in glossy pictorial boards; my copy does not have a dust jacket – I don’t know if it was issued with one.

Coastal Fishes of Taiwan
by Shi-Chieh Shen.  1984.
Author published. (1984), Hardcover, 152 color plates, text figs.

By the author’s count, some 1051 species in 153 families are included in the ichthyofauna in the waters surrounding the Island of Taiwan.  His guide has a color plate of fish images on one page and facing it are brief species accounts and sometimes identification keys or drawings of identifying traits.  The some 1622 color fish images are of living or freshly preserved specimens and add greatly to the utility and enjoyment of thumbing through a work such as this.  It must have been a huge task to accumulate these images and keep track of them.  The text is in Chinese and English.  My copy is author signed and dated – my copy does not have a dust jacket; I don’t know if it was issued with one.

The fishes of Seychelles
by J. L. B. Smith and Margaret M. Smith.  1969 (2nd edition)
Grahamstown, Rhodes University, J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, vi + 223 pp. illus. in black and white and color.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

There are apparently two editions of this work, one dated 1963 (I don’t have a copy of that one), and a second edition dated 1965 (according to notice on the copy right page).  They copy in hand dated 1969 (title page), but is also listed as a 2nd edition.  J.L.B. Smith died in 1968, so this edition was updated following his passing.  I can’t find any copies in book catalogs that are dated 1965, so perhaps this date on the copyright page is a typographical error and should read 1969.
In any case – this volume is largely a photo-guide/check to fishes of the Seychelles.  The text includes a brief introduction and then a listing of 881 species.  Illustrations of fishes are many per page, and are drawn from a varied sources.  Some are photographs, others are drawings, many by Margaret Smith.  Many are in color, either paintings or apparently colored photographs.  According to the forward (presumably by Margaret Smith), J.L.B. Smith had initially planned a much more comprehensive volume with identification keys and natural history accounts for each species.  Quite an undertaking for a fauna approaching 900 species.
The book lists subscriber or sponsors who supported publication of the volume....something seen in other books published in South Africa, but I’ve not noted it commonly elsewhere.









Pisces Tropicani
by Blake L. Twigden

Lansdowne Editions, Melborne. 1978. 91 pp., 26 plates. 12.5" x 16". Stiff boards (if there was a DJ or other cover, my copy is lacking this)

A large format book that is primarily an art book. The artist gives us 26 portraits of coral reef fishes. The renderings are excellent and the colors vibrant and bright. Some fishes portrayed alone, others in groups or in their habitat. Sir Peter Scott gives and introduction. Roger Lubbock commentary on the species.

The stiff boards that form the cover seem rather drab for this work...it may have come with a dust jacket or sleeve that my copy is lacking.

A note up front says that the edition is limited to 350 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. My copy is not numbered or signed.

Marine Fishes of Australia – Volume 2 (Jacaranda Pocket Guides)
by Gilbert Whitley

The Jacaranda Press, Brisbane. 1962. Vol. 2: 148 – 287, illus. with black and white drawings. 10 x 13 cm. Pictoral boards (no dj).

Volume 2 consists of species accounts for spiney rayed fishes. Vol. 1 (which I don’t have) must contain all the front matter (introduction, table of contents and such); this volumes contains nothing but species accounts.

Species accounts have the basics of distribution, identification and range.

An Annotated Checklist of the Fishes of the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean

by Richard Winterbottom, Alan R. Every and Erling Holm.  1989

Royal Ontario Museum,, Toronto: Life Sciences Contributions 145, (1989), Paperback, 226 pp.,. illus.

Just what the title says – and annotated checklist. Over 400 species are listed as being collected during a survey of the Archipelago in 1978-79.  A number are listed as undescribed or at least unidentifiable.  The information provided for each species is pretty limited, a taxonomic/nomenclatural definition, followed a listing of the material collected.  Several pages of color plates are provided, portraying mostly freshly preserved specimens.  Over half the volume comprises black and white photographs.  An important starting point for any identification or survey work of fishes of this area.




Eastern Pacific


Reef fish identification:  Galápagos
by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach.  1993, 2003.
New World Publications, Jacksonville and Libri Mundi, Cotopixel, Equador.
First edition 1993, 192 pp., illus. in black and white and (mostly color), stiff wrappers, spiral bound
ISBN 1-878348-06-X
Enlarged Second Edition 2003, 226 pp., (2nd printing 2011), maps, illus. in black and white and (mostly) color, stiff wrappers
ISBN 1-978348-35-3

There are a series of these field guides by Paul Humann and various collaborators.  I live them - they are attractive and well-presented.  This title has 2 editions that I have - the 2nd is labeled as “expanded” and is a little longer.  Front matter sets the stage for the ichthyofauna of the Galapagos, and includes a detailed “about the author” page (I like this feature in a book).  There is a outline picture guide to families – and then the taxonomic section.  Each species covered is given a color photograph (sometimes 2-3 photographs to portray females, variation or young).  The text is telegraphic and to-the-point covering description, abundance/distribution, habitat and behavior and reaction to divers.  I like the last category because it helps remind us not to reduce fishes to objects in photographs or specimens in jars....they are extant living creatures.  This guide is not a revision or natural history of the fauna or an exhaustive guide, but it’s not aiming any of these.






Reef Fish Identification: Baja to Panama
by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach.  2004
New World Publications, 364 pp., illus. in color and black and white, map.  Soft bound
ISBN 1-878348-38-8

This volume is similar in presentation of several other authored or coauthored by Paul Humann.  The audience is divers and snorkelers and information and organization geared towards identifying fishes seen on a dive or in a photograph from a dive.  Over 400 species of fishes (plus whales and dolphins) are covered.  Species included are generally larger and more visible species.  The book starts with introductory material on the region, with discussion on fish identification and biology.  A fish is identified by first finding its body shape/type and then turning to that section of the book and searching the photographs and drawings.  Fishes are portrayed by excellent (in situ) color photographs, with accompanying drawings showing specific diagnostic features.  The species accounts are telegraphic with basic details on diagnosis, biology, behavior, etc.














A Field Guide to the Gishes of Galapagos
by Godfrey Merlen.  1988
Quito, Ecuador: Ediciones Libri Mundi,. 60 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-9511424-0-1

About 100 species are included in this little guide, with is aimed at snorkelers and divers.  Each is illustrated in color (paintings by the author), with distribution and diagnosis given.








Guide to the Coastal Marine Fishes of California
by Daniel Miller and Robert N. Lea. 1972
California Department of Fish and Game. Fish Bulletin 157, Paperback, illus.
1972 Edition - 235 pages.  paperbound
1976 updated edition (publication no. 4065) - 249 pages, paperbound.

If you are needing to identify coastal fishes of the USA, this really useful, compact and inexpensive book.  Included are 144 families, and 514 species, encompassing species found in inshore waters down to 400ft.  A basic primer of fish identification leads into a key to families. Further keys through the book allow identification to species.  There really are no species accounts (other than the briefest of descriptions and range), making this volume an illustrated key to the fauna.  The user is directed to other sources for detail information on various species.  The illustrations are excellent, stippled drawings, often with key characters indicated or highlighted.  Several pages of footnotes are included in an appendix; these highlight taxonomic issues such as undescribed species or ambagious records as necessary.  A complete bibliography closes out the volume.  Basically, a much broader and updated version of Roedel’s Common Marine Fishes of California.

There are several updated or revised editions of this work.  The only one I have at hand is the 1976 version. The version has a 12 page addendum tacked on to the end of the original (which appears unchanged).  In this addendum are listed numerous corrections or updates (246 in all for 170 species), plus 8 additional species are added.  The edition is printed on heavier coated paper and bound in a water resistant cover – improvements, I imagine, suggested by users, who were wearing out their less sturdy 1972 printings.

Common ocean fishes of the California coast
by Philip M. Roedel.  1948

Department of Natural Resources, Sacramento. Fish Bulletin No. 68. 1948. 150 p. illus. (1 col.) 23 cm.

Here is a guide, with key to species, to assist anglers and commercial fishers identify the common fishes they encounter along California’s coast.  The book leans heavily towards larger species (game and commercial fishes).  Each species account fills one page – led by a black and white photograph of a specimen, and containing basic information, including fish gear used, season and commercial import.  About 110 species are covered.

Northern Seas  and Arctic

Fishes of the Northern Seas of the U.S.S.R. (Ryby sevenykh morei SSSR)

by A.P. Andriyashev (translated from Russian)

Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, Israel Program for Scientific Translations. 1964 (original Russian version 1954). 617 pp., 300 text figures. Plain wrappers. 17 x 24 cm.

One of several Russian language fish books translated and published by the Smithsonian. They are generally printed on cheap paper, with reproduction of the illustrations only fair to good. But for non-Russian speakers/readers, there are extremely useful for accessing these faunas.

This volume covers the fauna as listed in the title. Limited front matter is followed by the species accounts. Identification keys are provided, many species are illustrated. Species accounts include taxonomic synonymies, descriptive information and life history summaries.

Fishes of the Yukon Coast

by R. E. Kendel, R. A. C. Johnston, U. Lobsiger and M. D. Kozak.  1975

Beaufort Sea Project, Victoria, B.C., Beaufort Sea Technical Report No. 6, xi + 113, illus. Soft cover

A fishery and oceanographic/hydrologic survey of the near shore and anadromous fishes of the Yukon coast is offered here (not really a guide or revision).  Habitats are described and discussed, each of just over 20 species encountered likewise is discussed and graphed and charted. Illustrated with maps, graphs, charts photographs of habitat and a few of fishes.  The volume is one in a series of research reports on the Yukon Coast.

Red Sea and Persian/Arabian Gulf

The Red Sea in Egypt, Part 1: Fishes

by Farid S. Atiya. 1991

F.S. Atiya (published by the author). 1991., 231 pp., illus hardcover in dj.

This is a beautifully illustrated book on the pelagic and reef fishes of the Egyptian Red Sea. Front matter includes coverage of the habitat and an interesting chapter on symbiotic relationships.  The main section is a family-by-family excursion through the fauna.  The illustrations are mostly color photographs of fishes in their natural habitats.  The pictures are bright and nicely reproduced. Not so much as identification guide, as an appreciation or natural history; the author lists himself on the dust jacket as an author, diver, photographer and amateur naturalist.  This is listed as Vol. I in the series...I’m not sure what the other volumes cover.



CLOFRES: checklist of the fishes of the Red Sea
by Menahem Dor.  1984

Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1984. 437pp., 1 color pl., folding map, cloth covered boards

There are an increasing number of CLOF (Checklist of Fishes ... ) volumes in my library. I like them. The checklist is the key starting point to a broader understanding of a fauna. A great deal of literature and museum work goes into crafting one. Now much of this information is available on-line, but keep in mind this tool has only existed for a dozen or so years. CLOFRES contain introductory material, a color plate and a folding map of the area of interest. The checklist, basically an extended synonymy, follows. The exhaustive literature cited in volumes such as these is particularly valuable.  My copy has no dust jacket; I'm guess one was not issued.




Reef fishes of the Red Sea: a guide to identification
by Richard and Mary Field.  1998
London ; New York : New York : Kegan Paul International.  192 pp., illus. in color.  Glossy pictorial boards.
ISBN 0-7103-0613-X

I classify this attractive little guide in the class of books that a visitor to the Red Sea might pick up in the gift shop of their hotel before heading out to snorkel.  It’s a general, photographic guide to the most commonly seen fishes of the Red Sea.  Introductory material sets the stage with regard to local fishes, their biology and diver/snorkeler safety.  Species are grouped by family.  Most of the text is in the family descriptions, with relatively little information (other than a photograph) provided for individual species. 334 species are included.  The photographs are necessarily small, but mostly of good quality.









Fishes of Kuwait
by Katsuzo Kuronuma and Yoshitaka Abe.  1972
Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research, xiv + 123 pp. illus., map, 20 color. plates.  Errata sheet.   Cloth
covered board in dust jacket

This report results from a biological survey that was mandated as part of Japanese oil exploitation of Kuwait.  The surveys were large boat and bottom trawl based and thus appears to concentrate on larger species – especially those likely to be encountered by fishers and fishery workers.  One hundred and thirty one species are covered – I have to believe that the western Arabian Gulf is home a number of small species (intertidal gobies and such) which do no appear here.  In any case, what is covered are the more visible and common species.  An introduction to the area starts the book.  A summary of families follows, and then the species accounts.  These accounts are illustrated with black and white photographs or drawings, or by color photographs of freshly caught specimens (many photographed at a fish market).  The accounts themselves offer diagnostic information and a brief mention of abundance and market presence.
A nice companion volume to Common Fishes of Qatar (below).





Fishes of the Gulf of Aqaba
by Maroof A. Khalaf and Ahmad M. Disi.  1997
Aqaba, Jordan, The Marine Science Station, 252 p., illus in color.  Soft cover

The Gulf of Aquaba is an extension of the Red Sea that borders Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Sanai Peninsula.  About 400 species are covered in the guide – over 1200 are known from the broader Red Sea.  The introductory sections are short, with most of the volume consumed by species accounts.  Each species is illustrated with a color photograph, most portray fresh specimens, if not living ones, many show individuals on their natural habitat.  Text for each includes diagnostic traits (there are no keys or maps), and remarks on habitat, abundance, fishery significance.  Looking over the describing authorities for the fishes in the volume, I’m struck by how much of this fauna was initially described by 19th century ichthyologists.

Common Fishes of Qatar. Scientific Atlas of Qatar, Vol. 1

by K. Sivasubramanian and Mohamed A. Ibrahim

Doha, Qatar. 1982. iii + 171, illustrated with drawings and color photographs. Red cloth in DJ.

A catalog of the common encountered fishes of Qatari waters. Each species is given a full page, including a color photograph of a specimen, plus details on diagnosis, habitat and fisheries. The book is bilingual (English and Arabic). It is taxonomically ordered in what western book format is back-to-front. Nicely done and attractively presented. Vol. 2 of the series is listed as Rare Fishes of Qatar; if this book has been produced, I can’t find it listed anywhere.

Again, I love books likes this – locally produced and printed, and obscure and scarce (at least in North America).

Common sea fishes of the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman - Volume I

by A. W White and M. A. Barwani.  1971
Trucial States Council. 1971. 166 pp., illus in black and white, 2 color plates; 24 cm. Soft bound

The United Arab Emirates (known at the Trucial States at the time of publication for this volume) straddle the Arabian (Persian) Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.  This volume falls into the category of a guide for fishermen.  I would guess it was meant to be used at dockside or on the fishing boats.  It provides a listing of commonly encountered (and larger) species, and basic details of their identification, biology, distribution and capture.  Nearly 200 species are covered (in taxonomic order), each is illustrated with a sketch or line drawing. There are two pages of color plates, with photographs of fresh specimens.  My copy clearly gives 1971 as publication date; I note a couple copies with this title listed on-line that state 1970. I don’t have one of those to compare.  My copy also says Volume I; I’ve never seen any other volumes, and didn’t find such listed on line.

Southern Ocean

Fiches FAO D'Identification des Espèces pour les Besoins de la Pêche: Océan Austral (zone de la Convention CCALMAR Zones de Pêche 48, 58 et 88

by W. Fischer and J.C. Hureau. 1987

Rome: Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, 1987 2 vol. ill., maps; softbound, spiral binding; 24 cm

Volume I, 1 - 234: Algae, Euphasids, Crabs, Bivalves, Gastropods, Cephalopods, Jawless fishes, Cartilaginous fishes.

Volume II, 235 - 479: Bony fishes, Marine Mammals, Index

The FAO has issued a number of Identification guides for marine resources.  This two volume, spiral bound set covers the waters surrounding Antarctica.  This is the French language edition (I assume there is a English language one).  The contents for each volume are given above.  For each group, an illustrated identification is provided.  Each species covered is illustrated with a nice black and white drawing, with any important key traits in line drawing.  A description is provided along with a shaded area range map.  These volumes are intended as uncluttered identification guides, no information on biology or ecology is given.





Antarctic Fishes
illustrated by Mitsuo Fukuchi, text by Harvey J. Marchant and Boshu Nagase.  2006

The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2006. 136 pages, illus. in color, cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-8018-8610-4

The illustrations in this large-format book were crafted by Mitsuo Fukuchi using the gyotgaku method.  Fish specimens are inked and then pressed onto paper and then colored.  In the hands of a skilled artist, remarkably life-like images are produced.  Fifty or so fishes are portrayed in this way, with text by two experts on the fishes of the Southern Ocean.  Front matter coverers the fisheries of the Southern Ocean and a nice section on who the images are made.  Only basic details of the biology of the species is presented – the images are the real treat in this volume.




A History and Atlas of the Fishes of the Antarctic Ocean
by Richard Gordon Miller.  1993.
Foresta Institute for Ocean and Mountain Studies, 1993. xx + 792 pp., illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-9634436-0-7

Books like this offer and example of what a fish book can be when time, resources and expertise are brought to bear.  The production values are quite high – clearly the authors and editors were able to work relatively free from certain cost constraints that often require compression of the presentation.  In this volume the subjects are allowed to spread out over the pages for maximum effect.  This is a beautiful piece of work.  Detailed introductory chapters cover the unique biology, ecology, geology, oceangraphy of the polar oceans.  A history of human exploration of the region is also given.  The taxonomic sections divide fishes into groups endemic Antarctic, species endemic to the Antarctic from more broadly distributed families, and cosmopolitan species found in Antarctic waters.  There are identification keys, and shaded area range maps.  A small gallery of color plates presents some habitat shots, maps and some of the fishes..  Each species account comes with an illustration.  Many are the excellent work of J. Gourley; others are drawn from older works, often included for historic reasons.  Species accounts include diagnostic details, range, biology and etymology (I find the last interesting and fun to have).
I think it is unlikely I will ever work with any fishes in this fauna, and as with a great many of the books I am reviewing, I don’t have the personal experience to critique the content in detail.  All that aside,  I certainly enjoy thumbing through this exquisite volume.







Smiths' Sea Fishes
Margaret M. Smith and Phillip C. Heemstra (editors). 1986
Braamfontein, Johannesburg: Macmillan South Africa.  xx + 1047 p., 144 pp. of plates in black and white and color.
ISBN 0-86954-266-4
Johannesburg, South Africa, Southern Book Publishers (Pty) Ltd.
ISBN 1-86812-032-5

A book like this is a huge undertaking.  In the waters off Southern Africa (Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean both merging into the Southern Ocean) is a fish fauna representing 270 families and over 2200 species.  J.L.B. Smith’s The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa (1950, et seq.) was the first attempt to tackle this fauna, and this volume is titled in his honor.  Editors of the current volume, Smith’s widow, Margaret and Phil Heemstra, farmed out the families to dozens of authorities who each crafted the section or sections on the family of their expertise.  The fauna is fully keyed.  Each species is illustrated (illustrations drawn from a variety of sources, some newly made for this book) and the species accounts are necessarily brief, often limited to diagnosis and range.  A color gallery of 144 pages presents photographs and paintings of many species (some of these are drawn from earlier works by Smith and Smith).  A large list of donors and subscribers underwrote the costs of producing and publishing this volume, allowing its creation and keeping its final retail price reasonable.
This book comes with one of those book-marking ribbons bound into the spine – a nice touch.
I have two versions of this book for some reason.  One I acquired in South Africa, the other was the one distributed in the US.  There are minor differences to the title page, copyright page and dust jacket in line with the different publishers of record.  Otherwise, the books are identical.




Fishes of the Tsitsikama Coastal National Park
by J. L. B. Smith and Margaret M. Smith.  1966
Pretoria, National Parks Board, 161 pp., illus. in black and white and color.  Soft bound.

The Tsitsikama Coastal National Park is on the southern coast of South Africa.  One hundred and fifty or so of the fishes inhabiting park waters are covered here.  A brief introduction describes the region.  Each species covered is illustrated with a tinted photograph and a brief account of biology and details of angling interest (including size records).  J.L.B. Smith’s books often, it seems to me, contain more information chiefly of interest to anglers than books by many others.  There is little in the way of general biology or descriptive information offered.  The species are numbered in line with Smith’s The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa to allow easy cross reference.  The fish pictures appear to be black and white photographs that have been painted with colored paints.  This, too, is common in books by Smith and Smith.