United States / Canada / Mexico

Books on Freshwater Fishes of the United States and Canada and Mexico / Caribbean Islands (freshwater)

Click on the book cover to enlarge view.

Caribbean Islands (freshwater or mixed)

Hispaniola



New fishes from Santo Domingo
by Barton Warren Evermann and H. Walton Clark.  1906
Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum 30: 851-855, 3 text figs.

Evermann and Clark received a small collection of fishes from Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) and described 3 new species...all of which are still considered valid (Poecilia dominicensis, Sicydium buscki, Limia perugiae).  Pretty good for a collection that contained a total of 6 specimens that were “in fair condition.”  Each species is described an illustrated with a line or stippled dot drawing typical of the era.  My copy of this report came from Rudy Miller’s reprint library – and still to this day, had not had its pages cut.

United States and Canada

General Field Guides or Overviews (technical and general)

Peterson First Guide to Fishes of North American

by Michael Filisky illustrated by Sarah Landry. 1989.

Houghton Mifflin, 128 pages, illus.
ISBN 0-39-550219-5

This is a great little guide to common North American freshwater and marine fishes. It’s a kid’s guide and thus is simple and direct. It has the format of a normal Peterson Guide, but greatly simplified and slimmed down. Books like this should always be available to feed the interest in budding naturalists.








Fishes of North America
by Earl Stannard Herald.  1972.
New York, Doubleday [1972] 254 p. illus. (part col.) 23 cm. [A Chanticleer Press ed.]. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 79-147-353

Dr. Herald of the Steinhart Aquarium of the California Academy of Natural Sciences has give us in this volume, a compact coverage – at the family level – of North American freshwater and marine fishes.  Each family gets paragraph or two long discussion their biology and human interactions (if any).  Numerous color and black and white photographs illustrate many of the groups. An excellent and concise overview of the North American ichthyofauna.

Contributions to North American ichthyology -  Part I. Review of Rafineque’s Memoirs on North American Fishes.
by David Starr Jordan.  1877
Bulletin of the United States National Museum for 1877-78, No. 9: 1-53.  Not illus.

This paper is part of a series by Dr. Jordan on North American fishes, and represent some of his
earliest published contributions to ichthyology.  Rafinesque was an eccentric soul, apparently with a difficult personality.  His work on fishes was erratic, and tended to over-describe diversity (not atypical of this period).  Some of his important papers were published in obscure venues, making them difficult to access (especially in the days before copy machines, let alone pdf files). His works on North American fishes are also unillustrated and he left few if any voucher specimens or types.  On top of this, James Audubon also played a practical joke (or malicious prank) on Rafinesque by feeding him accounts of imaginary species to describe (which Rafineque indeed did).   In this paper, Jordan tries to sort out the nomenclature and taxonomy of taxa established by Rafinesque.







Contributions to North American ichthyology - Part IIA.  Notes of Cottidae, Etheostomatidae, Percidae, Centrarchidae, Aphododeridae, Dorysomatidae, and Cyprinidae, with revisions of the genera and descriptions of new or little known species
by David Starr Jordan.  1877
Bulletin of the United States National Museum for 1877-78, No. 10A: 1-68.  Part IIA.  Not illus.

This is pretty broad effort on bringing order to a number o families...it appears to be based primarily on a review of specimens held by U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian).  DSJ describes quite a few new taxa on this report (genera and species).  He also uses what is generally today considered the botanical usage of citing describing authority on species - two names are given, the first in parenthesis is the original describer, a second name (not in parentheses) indicates the revisor to gave the species in question its current generic assignment (if different than that of the original describing authority).  In this day, this type of paper would have been challenging to produce beyond the resources of a major museum library.  In this work DSJ makes frequent reference to opinions he has gathered from other ichthyologists.  Looking through this work, one does get the sense of how much work still needed to be accomplished to bring and sort of comprehensive order to North American fishes.






Synopsis of the fishes of North America
by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert.  1882

Washington, Govt. Printing Office, Bulletin of the United States National Museum, No. 16: lvi + 1018 pp. 1882. 24 cm.

This is the first attempt to produce a comprehensive accounting of the North American ichthyofauna.  130 families, 487 genera and 1340 species are recognized by the authors.  Each taxon gets a brief description with synonymy.  If known, some basic details on distribution or life history are offered, as are keys to identification.  The preface to works like this are always worth a read.  For something as old and foundational as this work, the preface puts you into to the mind set of the authors and the time in which they were operating.  That’s useful.  Jordan and Gilbert talk about the need of classifications to reflect “nature,” and how those of Gill and Cope are better at this than those of “European systematists” (Albert Günther?).  The authors also comment on the need for a universal nomenclature to avoid the taxonomic confusion that was beginning to be sorely felt in the late 19th century.  They note they are following the rules of W. H. Dall. This would be William Healy Dall (1845-1927), a malacologist, who working through the American Association for the Advancement of Science issued a report Nomenclature in Zoology and Botany (1877).
A synopsis such as this is always a work in progress (also noted by the authors in their preface)...it forms the foundation for further and more targeted research into the fauna.




A check-list of the fishes and fishlike vertebrates of North and Middle America
by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann.  1896
Report of the Commissioner for the year ending June 30, 1895, United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1896, pp. 207-584, not illus.  23cm.

This check-list of North American fishes was published roughly contemporaneously (1896) with the first volume of Jordan and Evermann’s The Fishes of North and Middle America: A Descriptive Catalogue (see below).  The check-list is a pretty basic accounting of the 3098 native species known from the freshwaters of North and Middle America, and marine fishes associated with this region.  The marine waters of North and Middle America are pretty broadly defined to include basically the western hemisphere, north of the equator.  A separate list gives the handful of non-natives species established in the region.  Each entry has the name, basic distribution and type description reference, with type locality noted.  Indexes are provided.  Theodore Gill and Barton Bean are acknowledged for their assistance with literature.  Oddly (it seems to me), Charles Henry Gilbert, co-author with Jordan on the 1882 Synopsis ... (see above) is not mentioned.  Certainly a useful tool – but the utility of this checklist must have been very quickly eclipsed by the appearance of the Descriptive Catalogue (1896-1900).

The Fishes of North and Middle America:  A Descriptive Catalogue
by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann.  1896 - 1900
Washington, D.C.:  Smithsonian Institution, 1896.  Bulletin of the United State National Museum No. 47.
Part I:  lx + 1 - 1240. 1896.
Part II:  xxx + 1241 - 2183. 1898.
Part III:  xxiv + 2183 -3136. 1898.
Part IV:  ci + 3137 - 3313, pls. 1 - 392

David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1883 produced a taxonomic check-list of North American fishes: Synopsis of the fishes of North America (1883); later (1896) Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann expanded the synopsis in their A check-list of the fishes and fishlike vertebrates of North and Middle America.  The present work by Jordan and Evermann (with the assistance of numerous of their colleagues) is a full accounting of freshwater and marine fishes then known from North and Middle America.  The 4 volumes cover the fauna (starting with cephalochordates) in taxonomic order.  There are identification keys provided, with descriptions and general distributions given.  I don’t find much, if any, biology or ecology included.  Taxonomic comments as appropriate are given.  Each taxon comes with a synonymy that includes, at least, the original description, often also other key citations (there is no formal bibliography for the work, references are given in telegraphic style in the synonymies or in footnotes).  The set closes with nearly 400 plates, the images drawn from various sources, including the vast archive of images from the Smithsonian and the U.S. Fish Commission.

This is a seminal work that gave (and gives) North American ichthyology a firm foundation.  The Catalogue details the fauna, allowing researchers to easily see what is known — but careful reading also allows them to see what is not known.  And this is key.  The authors point out in their introduction that there are many weak spots in their coverage of the fauna and there is still much more to be learned.  Despite this, such an exhaustive coverage of North American fishes appears to have had a chilling affect on studies of North American fishes for a couple decades.  Many of the top young ichthyologists of the early 20th century turned their attention beyond the United States – possibly feeling the work had been done.  An example would be Jordan’s student Seth Meek and his work in Mexico and Panama, and work by others in American possessions in the Pacific.

In the introduction Jordan acknowledges the many contributors to the volume – apparently especially helpful was Theodor Gill.  He goes out of his way to mention his long time colleague Charles Henry Gilbert, noting that he withdrew from the project and was replaced with Evermann.  Robert Rush Miller once told me that he was told (likely by Carl Hubbs) that Gilbert and Jordan had disagreement on how to proceed with the catalogue (which was based on their original Synopsis) - the result being Gilbert withdrawing from the project as author, but apparently still consulting on it.

I had the occasion on one project to work rather closely with the bibliographic details of this work - which was long used as THE source for literature citations for North American fishes (after all it is much easier to pick up one of these volumes than to attempt to track down any of the 1000s of original papers and volumes that are indexed in them).  As I compared the references for several hundred species printed in Jordan and Evermann to those provided in Bill Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes, I found more than a few typographical or other errors in Jordan and Evermann.  Many were as innocuous as an errant page number, but errors, none-the-less.  Being a good taxonomist, I annotated one of my reprint copies of the set with these corrections and carefully kept a list of the errors on the end sheets of each volume. At the time, I had two reprint sets, and in an act of house cleaning one day sold one of them – and accidentally sold the one with all the compiled corrections (Oh well).

Parts I - III are the main body of the work.  Part IV contains a systematic list of all species included in the Catalogue, an addendum of new taxa discovered or described since publication of earlier volumes, a list of species illustrated, captions for the plates, and 392 plates.

It would be hard to take any North American fish systematist seriously if they didn’t have a copy of this on their shelf - or at least close at hand.


The Fishes of North and Middle America: A Descriptive Catalogue (reprint edition)
by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann. 1896 - 1900 (reprinted 1963).
Jersey City, Reprinted for the Smithsonian Institution by T.F.H. Publications. 1963.  Blue cloth covered boards, no dust jackets issued.

This is a (nearly) exact reprint on the original.  The only ‘new’ material in the reprint is the first page in each volume which explains the alterations (detailed above) and gives ordering information.  The content is unchanged, but the presentation is altered a bit.  The dimensions of the reprint volumes are slightly smaller than the original.  Like the original, this is a 4 part set; however the breaks between volumes are more evenly distributed in the reprint volume – for example, Part I (original) runs pages 1 - 1240); while Part I (reprint) runs pages1 - 954.  The plates are printed double sided (reprint) and single sided (original).

The nice thing about the reprint edition is that is it solidly bound, and printed on paper that is not 100 years old.  Thus, it is more easily usable without worry of damage or excessive wear.  The heavy paper and thickness of the original volumes have lead to binding fatigue, and many sets are just not usable in the lab or library without very gentle handling.  When using the reprint one needs to take care with the citations given that the reprint volumes 1 - 4 do not correspond to the original Parts 1 - 4.
This was a timely and useful reprint and with it TFH did a service to the ichthyological community.





Bass, Pike, Perch and other Game Fishes of America.  New Edition
by James A. Henshall. 1919
Cincinnati, Stewart & Kidd Company,. xxi + 410 pp. col. frontis, black and white plates.  Cloth covered boards, issued with dust jacket

James Henshall (1836-1925) was a prolific angling author, and this book is regarded as a classic in the angling genre, reprinted multiple times.  The original was published in 1903.   Coverage is freshwater and brackish water fishes east of the Rocky Mountains.  The taxa are arranged more thematically than ‘naturally.’  In the text the author recounts his experiences with various species and their desirability as game fish, and their suitability as table fare.  The book is iIllustrated with a colored frontis piece of a black bass, and plates of black and white drawings of representative species (these appear to be the standard and often used drawings used in many government publications of the time).







North American Game Fishes
by Francesca Raimonde La Monte; illustrations by Janet Roemhild.  1958
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday,  xiv + 206 pp., illus. in color and black and white.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

This small book is somewhat of a classic.  A brief introduction on fishes and fish identification leads into 200 pages of species accounts and 72 plates (many in color).  Marine and freshwater fishes are covered.  Each species account contains details the basics of identification and biology.  The plates are well done and attractive.  In the introduction, LaMonte notes that Jordan and Evermann (1896-1900) was still the standard reference on North American fishes.  On the copyright page is the following admonition: GET A COPY OF THE LOCAL GAME LAWS BEFORE YOU GO FISHES.  There is a 1945 edition of this work; I don’t know how (if at all) it differs from the 1958 edition/printing.



There were not a lot of women of La Monte’s (1895-1982) generation active in ichthyology.  Their absence was certainly the science’s loss.  She did not hold an advanced degree in any science, and started her career as an assistant and secretary in the Ichthyology Department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.  She retired as an Associate Curator of Ichthyology.  Her hobby was big game fishing.









Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes.  First edition
by David S. Lee, et al.  1980
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, x + 867 pp., maps, illus. in black and white, Soft cover
ISBN 0-917134-03-6

Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes.  Revised edition

by David S. Lee, et al.  1981
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, x + 854 pp., maps, illus. in black and white, Soft cover
ISBN 0-917134-03-6

Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes.  1983 supplement
by David S. Lee, et al.  1983
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 67 pp., maps, illus. in black and white, Soft cover

This telephone book like work was intended to place in the hands of interested parties, an outline of the biology of each species of North American freshwater fish (native and non).  Presentation for each species follows a tight pattern.  Originally, a loose-leaf, up-datable format was planned.  However, the volume was issued bound (but with pages punched for 3 post binding).  Only one set of updated pages was ever issued.
 Each species gets one (a very few get two).  There is an illustration of the fish and a spot map.  The text is telegraphic with the following sections - type locality, systematics, distribution and habitat, adult size and biology.  The accounts were farmed out to numerous ichthyologists who compiled accounts for fishes in their region or taxon of expertise.  Hence the presentation is a little uneven.
 Some people had greater resources or more time or were working with species on which more is known.  It’s my understanding that some species accounts remained undone until very close to the publishing deadline.  It must have been a herculean task to organize and ride herd on all the specialists.  I’ve noticed a few oddities over the years.  Check out the range map for Semotilis atromaculatus; there are almost no records for the state of Michigan as apparently the compilers didn’t have access to records from there.
I find this volume to be enormously useful as a starting point in any study (or just basic curiosity) for any North American species.  The information is telegraphic and now dated, but just surveying the maps can be an interesting exercise.  My first edition copy show far more wear and soiling than nearly any other of my fish books, mostly reflecting the countless items I sought information on a specific taxon or just wanted to browse North American Fishes.
The first printing (1980) came with 5 pages of errata.  A revised edition was printed and issued a year latter.  In 1983 a short supplement covering fishes of the Greater Antilles, along with a series of loose leaf pages covering a handful of species left out of the original editions.












McClane's Freshwater Fish in America
by A. J. McClane.  1978.
Holt, Rinehart and Wilson, Inc. 1978., Paperback, 212 pages, illus.
ISBN 0-03-021116-6

Here is a guide directed at the angling crowd (it’s tackle-box size states the rear cover), written by a renowned angling author.  Basic fish biology is included in the front matter with a family by family accounting of North American native and non-native fishes - 224 species included (according to the back cover).  The emphasis is on sport fishes or larger species.  For example, I find no darters discussed – only the larger percids, although a token number of small cyprinids are included.  The illustrations are a little stylized - typical of a work of this type.  This work was extracted from earlier and larger encyclopedias on angling by this author – this material has apparently appeared in a number of editions and arrangements.   This is the type of book I would have LOVED as a kid.  The family arrangement is unique – not taxonomic, not alphabetical - I don’t see a pattern.

Representative North American fresh-water fishes
by John Treadwell Nichols, illustrated by Andrew Janson.  1942
New York, The Macmillian Company, 128 pp. illus. (part col.), soft cover in slip case

Sixty North American fishes are covered in this little volume.  Each gets a full page illustration (many in color) and a facing page of text.  The illustrations are of good quality, generally accurate (although some seem a bit off in shape).  The text gives the basics of distribution and biology.  The ordering appears rather haphazard.  Game and commercial species are well represented as are some of the smaller types.













A manual of land and fresh water vertebrate animals of the United States (exclusive of birds)
by Henry Sherring Pratt.  1923
Philadelphia, Blakiston's, xv + 422 pp.,  illus. in black and white, with colored fold-out map.  Hard cover

The fish section of this work runs from 1-143 (figs. 1-63).  It includes a primer on fish identification.  The taxonomic section includes keys to genera and species and brief accounts of each species included.  Selected species are illustrated with text figures; these are drawn from U.S. Fish Commission files and sources such as Forbes and Richardson’s Fishes of Illinois.  The fold-out map shows North America with biotic regions indicated in different colors.












American Nature Guides - Freshwater Fish
by Henry W. Robison.  1992
New York, Smithmark, 192 p., illus. in color
ISBN 0-8317-6968-8

This is a small guide to about 300 fishes found in North American (native and introduced).  Several pages of front matter set the stage, with the rest of the book occupied by paintings of fishes and bare-bones information on identification, habitat and range.  Identification is through the illustrations; there are no keys or more general identification tools.  I note that the illustrations were rendered by a team in London, thus the models were likely photographs.  Some are better (more accurate) than others.  There’s a companion volume in this series of marine fishes of American waters.  And the title should read "Fishes" instead of "Fish," but I've mentioned that before....








A Synopsis of the Fishes of North America
by David Humphreys Storer. 1846.
Cambridge: Metcalf, 1846. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 2:  254-550; also separate, 1-298 pp.; 28 cm.

Here we have one of the first, if not the first, attempt to catalog the fish fauna of North America.  Storer’s Synopsis is a taxonomically arranged listed of the fauna. Each taxon (down to species) is defined, described and diagnosed.  Very little natural history or other information is imparted.  The work, as noted by Storer in his introduction, is largely derived from other sources, but as a first attempt it sets an important foundation for work to come (notably, that by D.S. Jordan and his colleagues).  In pre-Darwinian classifications, groups are defined by shared traits, not in a context with any phylogenetic meaning, but rather, gross similarity.  For example, the two major groups are Osseus fishes and Cartilaginous fishes; Cartilaginous fishes are divided among those with and without jaws.  Sometimes these groups match groupings recognized today; other times they don’t....as with the inclusion of Chondrichthian fishes in the same group with Elasmobranchs.

My copy has a couple interesting associations. It came to me from the library of George Sprague Myers and bears his library hand-stamp (but not signature), and some notes on the rear end sheet that appear to be in his hand.  This copy was originally given by the author to Zadock Thompson (1796-1856), Vermont naturalist.  It is so inscribed – presumably in Storer’s hand, but it is signed only “with the respect of the author.”  A pdf of this volume from the collection of the Smithsonian is posted on-line. It bears a very similar inscription dedicated to Spencer Baird.

This work was published apparently with two paginations:  one included in Vol. 2 of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the other separate (see details above).  My copy is separate.

In the introduction, Storer notes drawing on Cuvier and Valenciennes Histoire Naturalle des Poissons, which ne notes was only up to Vol. 17 at the time of his writing.  Its interesting to try and get into the mindset of workers from so different a time.  A time when volumes of Cuvier and Valenciennes were still appearing and when phylogenetic relationships were visualized only in the vaguest of ways.







North American Fish
by Josleen Wilson.  1991

New York: Gramercy Books. 80 pp., illus in color. Glossy pictorial boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-517-03765-3

Published as part of a National Audubon Society series on nature, this is a basic volume on North American fishes (not “fish”).  It’s pretty basic in its presentation and level of science.  There’s a primer on fish biology followed by order by order accounts of fishes found in North American marine and freshwaters.  Most of the coverage is of marine fishes.  It is illustrated with many color photographs, again most of marine species. Conservation and appreciating nature of prominent themes running through the prose.





Arctic / Boreal

Freshwater fishes of northwestern Canada and Alaska
by John Donald McPhail and C. C. Lindsey.  1970.
Ottawa: Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bullentin 173, 1970. 381 p., illus. 4 leaves of color plates, hardcover in dust jacket

The Arctic regions have a rather depauperrate freshwater fish fauna and one that is incompletely known due in part at least to accessibility for study.  This book covers the fauna of northwestern North American (Canada and the USA).  Extensive front matter precedes species accounts.  Expect here to read a lot about glaciation – as this has been a major factor in structuring the biota of these regions.  Only about 60 species of found here.– dominated by salmonids.  There is a key to families, and a key for the species of each family.  The species accounts are detailed (as one might expect for a book of nearly 400 pages that includes only 60 species.  Each species is illustrated and its range spot-mapped. It is noted in the introduction that order of the two authors was decided with a coin flip.

Coastal

The tidemarsh guide to fishes
by Mervin F. Roberts. 1985.
Old Saybrook, Conn.: Saybrook Press. 1985. 373 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.  Stiff blue boards.
ISBN 0-96-150470-6

This is a handy little nature guide to tidemarsh (and thus some coastal and some freshwater) fishes of the Atlantic seaboard of North America from “north of the Mangroves to south of Nova Scotia.”   It's the type of book written by and for people who love nature and love the world around where they live.  Fishwise, the author of this type of guide often must pick and choose among common or commonly seen fishes, sometimes lumping similar creatures together or ignoring rare species. This book is probably not going to be of great assistance for the novice in identifying unknowns, but useful and nicely presented information on the fauna. The book is illustrated with engravings mostly if not all from the 19th Century U.S. Fish Commission publications.





Freshwater (General)

Fish of The Rockies: Including Best Fishing Sites
by Michael G. Sullivan, David L. Propst and William R. Gould. 2009.

Lone Pine Publishing, 224 pp., illus., softcover
ISBN 1551053969


First off, it the title should read “Fishes” not “Fish”, but it appears books aimed at anglers or the general public sometimes shy away from the proper (but awkward sounding to some) plural. The book covers just what is says it does...fishes of the Rocky Mountains of the US and Canada. Species accounts with standard information on identification, biology and life history are offered for game, non-game, native and non-native fishes of the region. The illustrations are nice and front matter complete and informative. Since this book is reaching the general audience and anglers in particular, I am happy to see discussion of non-game fishes and fish conservation. Especially out west, I think it never hurts to include discussion of the damage that non-native fishes have wrought on the integrity and viability of the western fish fauna and habitats.

The cover and pages appear coated to allow for some field use, and the price is such that this book is  probably to be found in trucks and tackleboxes already.




New England / North East / Atlantic Coastal States

The freshwater fishes of New England and those ascending the streams from the sea
by Edward Knobel.  1896
Boston, Bradlee Whidden Publisher, 40 pp., illus with black and white drawings.  Soft cover

Knobel gives us a booklet form guide to New England fishes.  There is a minimal introduction and then a key to types of fishes (roughly families).  Most of the book consists of nearly full page pen-and-ink drawings of fishes, with their common and Latin, and a descriptive phrase.  I haven’t seen the drawing elsewhere, they may be unique to this book – I don’t see an author credited (presumably Knobel).  A nice period piece.









Freshwater fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware
by Fred C. Rohde, Rudolf G. Arndt, David G. Lindquist and James F. Parnell.  1994
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, vi + 222 pp., illus. in color and black and white, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-8078-2130-6

This well-crafted book is not intended as a expansive revisionary tome, nor a end-all identification guide to the ichthyofauna of this region.  Rather, the authors have chosen to provide a basic guide to the major elements of the fauna.  This is the type of guide that an angler or amateur naturalist might use to identify a specimen of interest, learn a little about it – and perhaps have their interest piqued enough to explore further into the more detailed literature.  Front matter offers an introduction to the habitats and biogeography of the region.  There’s information on conservation (always important) and basic fish biology.  A gallery of color photographs mostly of living specimens includes over 200 species.  There’s a key to families – and then species accounts.  The species accounts may be arranged by family, genus or species group, or single species (in the case of larger species or sport fishes).  Shaded area range maps give an idea of distributions, and species accounts cover the basic details of identification and natural history.  A ‘Selected References’ will guide the interested party deeper into the ichthyology of the region.





Field book of fresh-water fishes of North America north of Mexico
by Raymond Martin Schrenkeisen, edited by J. T. Nichols and F R. LaMonte.  1938
New York, G.P. Putnam's sons,  xii + 312 pp. colored front., black and white text figs.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

Ray Schrenkeisen (1894-1936) was well-regarded editor of Field and Stream.  He had gathered much of the content of this guide when he passed away.  American Musseum ichthyologists Nichols and LaMonte gathered his materials and edited them for publication.  Creating a workable guide to an ichthyofauna as large as that of North America is a very challenging task.  Even more so, doing it without keys, maps or numerous illustrations – all of which this work lacks.  I estimate a couple hundred species are covered.  Each is given a description, with some details on habitat and natural history – relatively few are illustrated (with simple line drawings).  The colored frontispiece shows Aplodinodus grunniens - an oddly drab species it seems to me for the single color plate.









Freshwater Fishes of the Northeastern United States:  A Field Guide
by Robert G. Werner.  2004
Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2004. xiv + 335 p., illus.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-8156-3020-4

Werner’s guide covers New York and the states further up-coast.  The audience is anglers and amateur naturalists.  It’s a nice take on the fauna with a fairly standard approach.  Front matter contains an introduction to the region with details of import to the fish fauna.  Illustrated identification keys are provided.  The species accounts in include basic details on identification, distribution and life history.  There are no distribution maps.  The book is illustrated chiefly with the color paintings produced by the State Department of Environmental Conservation in the 1920s - 40s by artists Ellen Edmonson and Hugh Crisp.  It's good to see this classic natural history illustration out and in use again.








Midwestern Region



Studies of common fishes of the Mississippi River at Keokuk.
By Robert E. Coker.  1930
Washington, U.S. Govt. print. off., Bull. Bureau of Fisheries 45 (for 1929), Fisheries Document no. 1072 141-235, illus. 1930.  Wrappers.

The genesis of this report is the severe alteration of the Mississippi River by a lock and canal unit that flooded and bypassed the Keokuk rapids.  The unit closed in 1913, forever altering the flow for this part of the River, and altering the life support system for many species that evolved in the river as it existed.  A number the larger native and non-native species are discussed (in taxonomic order).  The authors notes what is known about their biology and offers observations on how the river alterations have impacted them.  In a number of instances he brings in what are essentially the anecdotal observations of locals - anglers, keen observers of nature or commercial users.  These are interesting, and in the absence of more formal fishery surveys, offer the only details on the pre-alteration conditions.  They include mentions of decline in abundance or cessation of spawning runs.  In his introduction the author bemoans the lack of even basic life history data on many common species.  Also included is a discussion of the freshwater muscles and how they were impacted by the loss of the rapids.  They had been the raw material source for local button manufacturers.
Works such as this are of interest, and it’s a shame they are often hidden in forgotten or easily overlooked reports.  The unit closed in 1913.  There is almost certainly no one alive today how has first hand memory of the pre-closing conditions.  It is easy for us to forget what conditions are “natural” and what are human influenced as memories fade and die.









A distributional atlas of upper Mississippi River fishes
by Philip W. Smith, Alvin C. Lopinot and William L. Pflieger.  1971
Illinois Natural History Survey, Biological Notes  No. 73 (May), 20 pp., maps.  Paper bound

    This is a museum and literature survey of fishes in the upper Mississippi River defined as mile 0 in Minnesota to its confluence with the Ohio River at the southern tip of Illinois.  One hundred and thirty four species are included.  This includes exotics and what the authors call “accidentals” (which are misplaced North American natives).  This survey arose from concern that pollution and other human activities were degrading the habitats and eliminating species from the river.  Each species is given a spot map, and threats to the fauna discussed.















Fishes of Pymatuning: Pennsylvania / Ohio
by Paul Thomas and Nicolas Johnson.  1993
Elgin, PA. Allegeny Press, 216 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover.
ISBN 0-910042-67-5

The Pymatuning Reservoir straddles the Ohio - Pennsylvania border, south of Lake Erie.  About 100 species from 14 families are covered in this guide.  A brief introduction with a map of the reservior is followed by species accounts.  There are no identification keys.  For each species, there is a full page stippled line drawing, with a brief list of traits and habitat details.  A brief set of references closes out the volume.






Pacific Northwest



Fishes of the Columbia Basin
by Dennis D. Dauble.  2009
Keokee Books.  244 pp., illus. in black and white and color.  Soft bound
ISBN 978-1-879628-34-2


Here’s a book for the naturalist or angler covering fishes of the Columbia Basin in the Pacific Northwest.  I image much of the information provided would extend to adjacent waterways.  Extensive introductory chapters cover aspects of the natural and human history of the region, along with giving a primer on basic fish ecology and biology.  An identification key to regional fishes is provided.  There is a gallery of color photos of principle members of the fauna.  Species accounts cover the basics of the biology of each species, as well as notes on their interest to anglers.  References are given.






Fresh water fishes of the Pacific Coast:  Identification

by Charles Everett. 1949

Binfords & Mort. Portland, Oregon. 45 pp., illus. with line drawings, small format, paper bound

Another guide primarily for the angler to tuck into his or her tackle box. Line drawings are the primary key to identification here, and salmonids are emphasized. Most of fishes (Cyprinids, Centrarchids, etc.) are discussed at the family level. Still, I enjoy small finds such as this one, on ebay or in the pamphlet bin of a used book shop.

Pacific salmons, trouts, and fresh water fishes

by C. E. “Quill” Gordon. 1954.

Portland, Ore., Manuscript Press. 1954. 89 pp., illus.

This is a small format book with details on the biology and angling interest for freshwater fishes of the Pacific northwest (native and non-native). This fishes are not illustrated and an identification guide is not included. Finding little books like this are often the reward of searching small bookshops or antique malls.

Keys to the fishes of Washington, Oregon and closely adjoining regions
by Leonard Peter Schultz.  1936
University of Washington Publications in Biology, Vol. 2, No. 4:  103-228 p. illus., Dec. 1936, illus. 25 cm.  Second printing 1938.  Stiff wrappers

Here is an illustrated set of keys to the marine and freshwater fishes of the Pacific Northwest.  I can’t think another such work from this area in this time frame, so it must have been a useful tool for fishery managers and scientists.   Front matter is minimal, but there is an index and glossary.  I have two copies, one is a first printing is inscribed by Dr. Schultz; the other is from a 2nd printing (March 1938).  The 1938 printing is essentially the same as the first, the cover, title page and copyright pages are altered according, and the 2nd printing is somewhat thinner being printed on lighter weight paper.
I also have a 5th printing from November 1958.  The main text is exactly the same as the earlier printings, although printed in smaller format, and listing of other UW publications in the earlier printings are omitted.  My copy is spiral bound with stiff tan covers.




















Southeastern North America


A study of the fishes of the southern Piedmont and coastal plain

by Henry Weed Fowler.  1945

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Monograph No. 7, 1945. vi + 408 pp., plates. 27 cm.

Henry Fowler loved fishes and loved ichthyology and loved describing new species.  He was curator of fishes for decades at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.  Many of his longer publications follow the pattern of this one.   They document a series of collections from a particular region.  He would identify the taxa, list and describe them, and illustrate many of in his own distinctive, if somewhat stylized, form.  This work documents fishes of the Coastal Plain of the US from Maryland to Texas.  A great many fish books are delineated by political boundaries.  This one is a little unusual for a freshwater fauna in that the delineation actually makes sense in a biogeographic or ecological sense.

Several hundred species or subspecies are listed. Many are taxa that are no longer recognized.  They are primarily freshwater, but a number of marine species are present as well.  Species accounts are divided geographically (by state) and include a synonymy and description of specimens from the survey and/or available to Mr. Fowler.  There are 310 figures arranged on plates.  Nine new species are described (3 still considered valid) and one new genus (not presently considered valid).
Publications issued by the ANSP (and others) in this period were issued in rather basic form, bound in wrappers, often with the pages untrimmed.  Heavy use of any of these volumes would require binding them in something sturdier.





Common freshwater sportfishes of the southeast
by George W. Lewis.  1983
Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia, College of Agriculture, MP 145 (March 1983), 55 pp., illus. in color.  Small format, soft bound

About 40 species (native and nonnative) are covered in this little booklet.  The introduction contains basics on fishes identification, and the species accounts detail descriptive features, with some information on habitat and natural history.  The information is basic and tailored to appeal to the interested angler.  Each species is illustrated with a color photograph of fresh or living specimens.  This is the type of guide that you might find in a pamphlet rack at a Game and Fish office or bait shop.  I gathered a number pamphlets and booklets such as this years ago by writing to various state game agencies and asking them to send me any such gratis literature they had.  Many responded although tighter budgets today may limit the availability of this information.








Field Guide to Fishes of the Conasauga River System

by Christopher E. Skelton and Brett Albanese.  2006

U.S. Forest Service Manual, Gainesville, GA. 251 pp., illus in color, maps. Spiral bound, soft cover

Guides that are biogeographically based (such as this on the Conasauga River System) are logical, but far less common that guides based on political boundaries. This one covers around 100 native and non-natives fishes of this drainage, which is home to a number rare and protected fishes. A short introduction leads into a key to families and species. Each species account is spread across facing pages. A full page spot map and color photograph (of a freshly preserved spcimen) are given. The text for each species briefly summarizes the standard information. This volume is spiral bound for ease of use in the field or lab.













Distribution and natural history of the fresh and brackish water fishes Ochlockonee River, Florida and Georgia
by Camm Swift, Ralph Yerger and Patrick R. Parrish, 1977
Bulletin of Tall Timbers Research Station No. 20, 111 pp., 13 figs., wrappers

    Another rivers system survey from a Florida system.  Some 100 species were encountered or are recorded in this survey.  Species accounts offer details of each species within the drainage.  Broader discussion of the region, habitats and ecology are also given.












Western/Southwestern North America







Report of explorations in Colorado and Utah during the Summer of 1889, with an account of the fishes found in each of the river basins examined
by David Starr Jordan.  1891
Bulletin of he United States Fish Commission, Vol. IX, for 1889: 1-40, pls. 1-4, wrappers (separate)

Professor Jordan reports on a large series of collections from western basins - Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, Salt Lake.  A number of species are listed or discussed/described as warranted.







Fishes of the Great Basin:  A Natural History
by William F. Sigler and John W. Sigler.  1987

Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1987. xvi, 425 pp., color plates, illus., cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-87417-116-4

The Great Basin is a series of endorehic watersheds spread across several western states, centered on Nevada.  This book, authored by a father and son team, covers the 50 or so native (and non-native) fishes in the region.  Extensive front matter covers historical and biological features of the region.  Identification keys are provided, followed by detailed species accounts.  Ten of color plates illustrate representative species – leaning heavily on salmonids.  Species accounts are illustrated with half-tone drawings.  There are no distribution maps.  This is a well-crafted and attractive volume.  The folks University of Nevada Press did a nice job.










The Fishes of the Lahontan system of Nevada and Northeastern California
by John Otterbein Snyder.  1917
Bull. of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXXV, Doc. No. 843:  33-86. illus., 9 text figs., pl. iii-v, fold out map

This region is of some interest in terms of ichthyobiogeography, and presently its inhabitants are subject of conservation actions and concerns.  Snyder gives us a detailed introduction for the region and its fauna, and then launches into detailed species accounts.  Several species are described as new, but none appear to still be considered valid.  The plates are photographs of habitat, the text figures of fish.













The natural history of native fishes in the Death Valley system
by David L. Soltz and Robert J. Naiman.  1978
Los Angeles, CA: Natural History of Los Angeles County; 1978. ix + 76 pp., ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm. Softbound
Library of Congress Number 78-73685

When I mention my background in desert fishes, people often look surprised and say something like, “fishes in deserts?!”  Where there is permanent water there are usually fishes. Death Valley is certainly no exception, home to a number of native fishes - and not just pupfishes.  This report details the geography, geology and history of the aquatic systems of Death Valley. Each species is also covered in detail.  Most are illustrated in black and white and color, along with a number of habitat photographs.  A very readable account, this work was aimed at broader audience than fish people.  There is lots of interesting detail on Devil's Hole and the Devil's Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) I found my copy years ago at the visitor center at Furnace Creek in Death Valley; one would hope that at least a few visitors thumbed through it and considered at least briefly the native aquatic fauna of the region.  Fish illustrations are by Carol Mortensen.








Part 5 - Report upon the fishes collected on the survey
Chapter I. Report upon the Salmonidae, pp. 307-349, pls. 66-75.
Chapter II. Report on the fishes exclusive of the Salmonidae, pp. 350-368, pls. 1-65.
by George Suckley.  1860.
Report upon Explorations and Surveys, Washington DC, Vol. XII, Book 2, part 5.  1860.

Suckley here is reporting on fishes from the more northern exploration routes of the so-called Railroads surveys, a series of explorations of the American west undertaken by the U.S. Army in the early 1850s.  One chapter devoted to the ever-important salmonids, the other to the rest of the fauna.  Discussion of the salmonids is more detailed, with the fauna cataloged, but also aspects of the fishery included. The non-salmonids get a more abbreviated treatment.  They are listed and described, some with some life history or other details included.  The two chapters are illustrated with the excellent plates that are found in all the

Railroad Survey volumes.
I have a copy of just these fish chapters presumably removed from a full volume at some point in time.

Canada

The Game Fishes of Canada

by Canadian Pacific Railway Company

The Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Montreal. 1928. 45 pp., illus. with color plates. 16 x 23 cm. If this was issued with a dj, I haven’t seen it.

I generally don’t collect angling books, but make exceptions for antiques. This attractive little guide to Canada’s games fishes offers basics of the biology of 20 sport fishes of Canada (mostly salmonids). 15 species are illustrated with nicely executed and presented full-page color plates. A nice period piece; my copy has that great old-book smell.

No author is clearly listed.  I'm not sure why the Canadian Pacific Railway Company published a book on game fishes.










Check list of the fishes of the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland
by Andrew Halkett.  1913
Ottawa, Printed by C. H. Parmelee, 138 pp., 14 black and white plates.  Cloth covered boards.

This one of the earliest books I have on Canadian fishes.  It’s a faunal starting point – the check-list.  Some 566 species are listed as confirmed or suspected in Canadian fresh and coastal waters.  The author derived his list from his own experience and published and unpublished sources available to him.  He obviously made heavy use of Jordan and Evermann’s catalog and checklist of North American fishes.  The introductions sets the stage and describes sources and philosophy (i.e., British spellings preferred).  The next section lays out the fauna in a classification.  Then the fauna is laid out in numbered check-list, with distributions noted.  The work is heavily footnoted with references on taxonomy and range.
There are 14 full page black and white, photographic plates, each showing a number of fishes - apparently mounted specimens.  The plates have tissue protectors, printed with the names of fishes on the plates.











Fishes of Canada's national capital region / Poissons de la région de la capitale du Canada
by Don E. McAllister and Brian W. Coad.  1974

Ottawa: Dept. of the Environment, Fisheries and Marine Service, 1974. Miscellaneous Special Publication No. 24, 200 pp., 4 leaves of plates : ill. ; 25 cm., stiff boards, maps on end leaves.

Most fauna books on fishes are bound geographically in some sense or another – one state or province or another, a certain part of an ocean, etc.  In most cases, these boundaries are arbitrary (i.e., not defined by the fauna).  This book is a little more arbitrary than most – the region covered is a circle with a 30 mile radius, centered on the Capital Building in Ottawa.  Within this region some 75 species are known.  Following an introduction to the faunal, geologic and glacial history of the region, are detailed species accounts (offered in English and French).  Each species is illustrated and spot-mapped. A pictorial key to families assists in identification.  A nice little guide.







Les Poissons d'Eau Douce Du Canada
by A. N. Montpetit.  1897
Beauchemine & Fils, Montreal. xiv + 552 pp., illus., color plates.  Decorated cloth covered boards

This is the earliest book on Canadian fishes in my collection.  It’s really not a guide or revision of Canadian fishes, but rather an exposition on the larger freshwater species that might be seen by the angling public or viewed as sport or commercial fishes.  The front matter offers a primer on fish biology, anatomy and reproduction.  The species accounts that follow are not ordered taxonomically (the first species covered is Perca flavescens).  There are sections on angling and lures and such.  Many species are illustrated with black and white engravings, at least some of which appear drawn from existing works.  There are 12 color plates (chromolithographs), which I haven’t seen elsewhere.  The cloth covered boards are decorated in a fashion that mimics to a degree a leather spine and corners.










Freshwater fishes of Eastern Canada
by W. B. Scott.  1967

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967. x + 137 pp., illus., map. ; 24 cm. 2d edition
ISBN 0-8020-6074-9 / LS 67-101255

Scott gives us a compact guide to the fishes of the six eastern provinces of Canada:  Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.  One hundred and fifty four native and non-native species are covered.  Species accounts are basic and complete; each is illustrated with a black and white photograph, but there are no distribution maps.  A key to species is offered. The goal of this book is a guide usable by any interested person, not a revision or technical coverage of the fauna.  There are two editions of this book, 1954 and 1967.  The 2nd has been reprinted several times (1972, 1974 and 1978 at least), pictured is the 1978 printing.  The 1967 printing was issued with cloth covered boards, I don’t know if it had a dust jacket.







Provisional Checklist of Canadian Freshwater Fishes
No Author listed, probably W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman. 1967
Information Leaflet, Department of Ichthyology and Herpetology, Royal Ontario Museum. 39 pp., informally published report for limited distribution. July.

One hundred eighty five species in 25 families are listed in this report.  It was produced for limited distribution to garner comments and corrections, as a more comprehensive work on Canadian fishes was prepared.  Each species is listed (in taxonomic order), with the provinces in which it occurs listed.  A few nomenclatural or taxonomic comments are added as appropriate.










Checklist of Canadian freshwater fishes with keys for identification

by W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman.  1969

Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, Miscellaneous Publications, 1969. 104 pp, illus.; 25 cm. Soft cover

Here’s the foundation of Scott and Crossman’s excellent Freshwater Fishes of Canada (1973) (see below).  As the title states — there is a checklist, including separate lists broken down by drainage, and keys to species.  Illustrations include a map of the area of interest, and drawings of diagnostic features.

Freshwater fishes of Canada - First Printing
by W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman. 1973
Ottawa, Fisheries Research Board of Canada,1973. Bulletin 1984, xi + 966, illus., pictorial cloth covered boards in dust jacket
FS 94-184
Freshwater fishes of Canada - Updated Printings
Corrected printings with updates - 1975, 1979

Ottawa, Fisheries Research Board of Canada,1973. Bulletin 1984, xviii + 966, illus., pictorial cloth covered boards in dust jacket

ISBN 0-660-10239-0; ISSN 0068-753

It takes a heavy thick book to cover the fauna of an entire country.  One hundred and seventy seven native species are included in this work. Front matter is brief, but the species account highly detailed.  There is an illustrated key to families, with separate keys for each family.  Each species is illustrated, and most are given spot maps.  The account includes description, biology, distribution, and human interaction. This is a classic work that like those such as The Fishes of Ohio by Trautman (1957) allow in an entrance into the fauna.  If the Canadian fish fauna has been as battered as that of the USA, than an updated version of this book is probably due to account for recent discoveries and studies, and conservation issues.
The first printing was in 1973; my copy came with an errata sheet.
There is an updated 1975 printing (of which I don’t have a copy), and an updated 1979 printing.  The 1979 printing contains several pages of authors’ comments and updates (dated 1979).  The errors listed in the errata sheet mentioned above have been corrected by the 1979 printing (and I assume the 1975 printing).

Poissons d’Eau Douce du Canada

by W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman

Office des Researches sur les pecheries du Canada, Ottawa. 1974. Bulletin 184, xi + 1026 pp., illustrated with black and white drawings and color plates.
ISBN 0660900602

This is the French language translation of Freshwater Fishes of Canada (1973). In either language the book is a classic (see review of English language version for details).

I’ve only very rarely seen the French language version of this or other important Canadian ichthyology works.  Fun to find, but quite scarce (outside Quebec, at least).










The Angler's Book of Canadian Fishes
by Frederick H. Wooding.  1959

Don Mills, Ontario: Collins,  1959. 303 p., 4 leaves of color plates, black and white text figures; 23 cm. 1st ed. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

I found this little book in a fine used book ship in Pittsburgh. Often I pass over angling books, but I like this one.  It’s a nicely constructed and presented natural history of the fishes that would be encountered in Canadian freshwaters.  Family by family, potential games fishes are discussed and illustrated.  Following the sections on game fishes, is a section on the rarer and small native fishes.  Science is there, lurking in the subtext, but book is largely about enjoying the diversity from a perspective that I haven’t had in decades – that of the angler.  The drawings and color plates (by Gordon Fairbairn) are accurate enough and pleasing and pleasing.  The Preface is provided by Canadian ichthyologist and fishery biology J.R. Dymond.

Lake, River & Sea-Run Fishes of Canada
by Frederick H. Wooding

Harbour Publishing, Madiera Park, British Columbia. 1994. 303 pp., illus. in black and white with some color plates. My copy is soft bound

ISBN 1 55017 175 5

Delivers pretty much what the title states – a survey of Canadian fishes. This is definitely not for the ichthyologist or fishery biologist but rather for the angler or interested citizen. Basic information, well presented.
Canadian ichthyologist Joe Nelson an thoughtful introduction well worth a read.











Alberta



Fish of Alberta
by Michael Sullivan and Michael G. Sullivan, illustrated by Ian Sheldon.  2003.
Lone Pine Pub, 176 pages, illus. in color, maps, soft cover

A nicely presented and compact guide for the general reader.  The front matter has sections basic fish anatomy and biology, identification, habitats in Alberta, human history with these fishes, and fish
watching.  I like inclusion of the last mentioned.  Appreciation and understanding of the fauna by the general public will lead to greater care and conservation.  Native (non-sport) fishes are often an invisible part of a region’s natural history in a way that birds, for example, are not. In the taxonomic section opens with an identification guide and key.  Over 60 species in this fauna are covered.  Each species gets two facing pages.  A color painting (nicely rendered) is presented.  The text give general information on the biology and life history of each species, including a section on “viewing tips.”  A shaded area range map gives distribution.  Of course, the title should be “Fishes of Alberta.”  Guides for general reader, for some reason, employ the word “fish” here.







The fishes of Alberta
by Martin Joseph Paetz and Joseph S. Nelson.  1970.
Edmonton: Queen's Printer, Government of Alberta, 1970. vi + 282 pp., illus., some in color; 22 cm.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

Paetz and Nelson provide a well-constructed and pretty standard treatment to the ichthyofauna of Alberta in a compact and portable form.  Some province or state guides are heavy, lengthy revisions of the fauna.  Others, like this one, are guides intended to be useful in the lab or field or for the angler or arm-chair naturalist.  Front matter describes the region and fish culture in Alberta.  The taxonomic section includes keys, spot maps and illustrations for each species and detailed species accounts.  The illustrations are mostly black and white photographs of preserved specimens; some are colored photographs for fresh specimens.  The book ends with a gallery of color paintings of game fishes – somewhat stylized or poster-like in execution.  Early in my career my goal was to have a guide to the fishes of every state or province. Finding a new one, such as this, was always fun.

The fishes of Alberta - 2nd Edition

by Joseph S. Nelson and Martin J. Paetz.  1992

Edmonton: University of Alberta Press; 1992. xxvi + 437 pp. : illus. (some col.) ; 24 cm. 2nd ed. Hard cover; glossy pictorial boards
ISBN 088864-235-0

A little more than 20 years after the first edition, here is the second, with the authorship reversed.  The Fishes of Alberta (2nd edition) gives a complete accounting of the fish fauna of the province.  Introductory chapters describe the area from multiple perspectives – geologic, hydrographic, historical, human interactions – and the species accounts cover the fauna.  Each species account comes with a full page map (a feature I like) and an illustration (some in color).  The accounts are detailed and many contain numerous citations to the primary literature.  The maps has spots for verified records, and shaded area for continuous distribution.  As with anything done by Joe Nelson this book is first rate.







British Columbia


The trout and other game fishes of British Columbia

by J. R. Dymond. Illustrations by E. B. S. Logier 1932

Ottawa: Dept. of Fisheries, 1932. 51 p., 7 of leaves of plates : ill. ; 26 cm.,cloth covered boards

This is a compact and nicely presented guide to the Salmoniform game fishes of British Columbia.  There is a key to species and detailed species accounts including information on general biology, management and angling.  Seven species are illustrated by chromolithographic plates, which are bright and attractive, and, to my eyes, accurate.  Front matter includes an introduction to the region and the fishes, and back matter on conservation.  I’ve never seen a copy with a dust jacket.










The fresh-water fishes of British Columbia.  First Printing
by George Clifford Carl and W. A. Clemens.  1948.
Victoria, B. C.: British Columbia Provincial Museum, Handbook No. 5. 1948 (Sept). 132 pp.,: text figures, color plates, 19 cm. Soft bound

The fresh-water fishes of British Columbia. Third Printing (Revised)
by George Clifford Carl, W. A. Clemens and C. C. Lindsey.  1959.

Victoria, B. C.: British Columbia Provincial Museum, Handbook No. 5. 1959 (revised, reprinted 1967, 1971, 1973, 1977 at least). 192 pp.,: text figures, maps, 19 cm. Soft bound

The authors here provide a handy guide to the fishes of British Columbia.  Front matter sets the stage giving an overview of fish biology and identification, as well as patterns of fish distribution in British Columbia.  There are identification keys and each species account included the typical details of identification, distribution, biology and human importance.  Each species is illustrated with a half-tone drawing (by Frank L. Beebe).  The first printing also includes color plates of salmonid fishes (by E. B. S. Logier); these are the same plates as seen in Dymond’s The Trout and other Game Fishes of British Columbia (1932).  My copy bears the signature of G. S. Myers on the front cover.

This work has been updated twice (1953 - I don’t have a copy of this edition) and 1959.  The 1959 edition (of which I have a 1977 printing) contains a new third author, updated information and spot distribution maps not seen in the original edition.  The same black and white illustrations are used, but the color plates have been dropped.

The Freshwater Fishes of British Columbia
by J. D. McPhail, illustrated by D. L. McPhail.  2007
Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, lxxiii + 619 pp., illustrated in black and white, hardcover in dust
jacket
ISBN 0-88864-467-1

This is a particularly fine example of a ‘fish book’ for a state or province.  It shows what a dedicated ichthyologist with support can produce.  The ichthyofauna of British Columbia is not large (66 or 67 native and non-species), but is covered in full detailed – over 600 pages worth.  The book opens by giving each of the several book sponsors a full page to explain their mission and role.  Book sponsors contribute to the production of the book and keep the final cost as reasonable as possible.  Introductory sections cover the basic typical of this type of book – identification, conventions, taxonomy and classification.  There an outline of the biogeography of the region (lots of discussion of glaciation as typical with norther areas), and discussion of conservation issues.  The family ‘key’ consists of a series of outline drawings rather than the usual dichotomous key.  Species are keyed within families.  Each species account is illustrated with an excellent half-tone drawing and a spot map of British Columbia.   The species accounts themselves do not skimp on detail (with references cited) with sections on identification, distribution and various aspects of the species’ biology and conservation.  The spot maps are large enough to be useful, but are confined to just British Columbia,  lacking portrayal of the overall range of the species.  Both in content and presentation, this book can serve as a model for how to offer a regional fish book.

Labrador and Newfoundland

The Fishes of Labrador

by William Converse Kendall

Proceedings of the Portland Society of Natural History (Portland, Maine). Vol. II, part 8: 207-243 (article XIII), not illus. 1909.

Kendall (1861-1939) details a collection of fishes made in Labrador in 1891. The species collected are listed, some with comments on habitat or taxonomy. This is followed by a checklist of species known from Labrador. The work closes with an annotated bibliography of the ichthyology of Labrador.

Fishes Occurring in the Fresh Waters of Insular Newfoundland

by W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman. 1964

University of Toronto. 1964, 124 pp., illus, paperback

Insular Newfoundland is the island portion, exclusive of Labrador. The ichthyofauna is rather depauperate given the regions history of glaciation, and is replete with salmonids (native and non), and species typical of the freshwater/marine habitat transition (Gasterosteus, for example). Some 24 species are included. The front matter sets the stage with a historical overview of knowledge of the ichthyology of the region. A key to species is followed by species accounts. Descriptive information and other tidbits are included in the accounts which are illustrated with black and white photographs of fishes and habitat. There is a color frontispiece of specimens of arctic char.

Manitoba

The Fishes of Manitoba
by David Hinks.  1943
Manitoba: Department of Mines and Natural Resources, 1943. x + 102 p., illus., cloth covered boards
Reprinted with Supplement by J.J. Keleher and B. Kooyman, 1957.  Soft Cover 

This small guide was published posthumously.  The author, David Hinks (1915-1942), had largely completed the manuscript by 1940.  Upon the outset of the war, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was killed in action in July of 1942. He is buried in Hamburg, Germany.  This book is, therefore, a tribute to the life of a promising young naturalist cut short.  Here is a bit about his life.

The book itself is pretty standard of its time.  A primer on fish biology and identification is followed by taxonomic accounts (with keys and illustrations) of about 70 species (native and a few non-natives).  The accounts contain the
basics of biology, distribution and identification, plus a bit on the fish’s “value” (as in utility to humans).  Each species is illustrated by a drawing or photograph - these are generally borrowed from other sources notably, Jordan and Evermann (1896-1900) and Hubbs and Lagler (1941).  My copy does not have a dust jacket – I don’t know if this volume was issued with one.  My copy came to my library by way of the library of Florida ichthyologist Ralph Yerger.
This book was reprinted in 1957, this edition is identical to the 1943 edition except for alterations to the title page and supplement that runs from page 103-117.  The supplement includes a drainage map of Manitoba and updated information on a number of species and accounts of species recorded from Manitoba in the years following original publication.  Fifty-five references are added.

Freshwater fishes of Manitoba:  checklist and keys

by Alex N. Fedoruk. 1971

Winnipeg: Dept. of Mines, Resources & Environmental Management, 1971. 130 pp.: illus.; 22 cm. Soft cover

Eighty four species are listed and keyed in this work. A primer on fish identification opens the volume, and is followed by detailed illustrated keys to the fauna.








The freshwater fishes of Manitoba
by Kenneth W. Stewart and Douglas A. Watkinson.  2004

Winnipeg University of Manitoba Press. 2004, 276 pp., illus. in color, maps. Stiff pictorial boards or hard bound

ISBN 0-88755-678-7

A compact and looks to me quite useful guide to the native and non-native fishes of this central Canadian province.  Front matter covers the history/geology and geography of the province, again with discussion of glaciation, an important force in the structuring of these more northerly faunas.  There’s a primer on fish identification, and keys to identification of the families and the 95 species covered.  The species accounts include a color photograph of what looks to be a freshly preserved or living specimen of each species.  The distribution maps have spots for verified records and a shaded area showing known continuous occurrence – a nice combination.  The accounts include the typical and useful details of the biology/range/identification of the fishes.  I note a few species are included that haven’t been verified in Manitoba, but are found just across the border in Wisconsin. I like the comment on Etheostoma microperca - “It is probably almost never seen by people other than aquatic biologists.”  Probably true – but also a little sad, I suppose, as this diminutive native is real jewel.   There appears to be a hardbound edition of this work, although I haven't seen a copy.






Nova Scotia


The Fishes of Nova Scotia's Lakes and Streams
by John Gilhen. 1974.

Nova Scotia Museum (1974), Edition: 1ST, Paperback, 49 pages. Soft cover, stapled.

Here is a basic guide to the fishes known from the freshwaters of Nova Scotia. A handy guide with the basics for each species account. Information on salmonid fishes is more details (as of often the case in a book such as this). Fishes are illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings, identification keys are provided, but no maps. Front matter pretty brief.

The Fresh-water Fishes of Nova Scotia
by D. A. Livingstone.  1953
Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Vol. 23 (part 1, for 1950-1951): 1-90, illus. Soft bound

At the time of publication, 44 species were known from the fresh waters of Nova Scotia or thought likely to occur there.  This guide provides background on the region and identification keys to the species. Many are illustrated with drawings are photographs, and some are spot mapped. Species accounts are brief with basic identification and life history information.  A literature cited is provided.  My copy is bound in the full volume of the Proceedings with a couple other reports; I’m not sure if it was issued as a separate as well.

Ontario


Quetico Fishes
by E. J. Crossman.  1976
Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum and The Quetico Foundation, 1976. ix + 86 p. : illus in black and white; 24 cm. Soft cover.
ISBN 0-88854-180-5

Quetico Provincial Park is a wilderness park, north west of Lake Superior in Ontario.  Dr. Crossman here gives us a natural history guide to the fishes of the lake. Not a revision and not an identification guide (there are no keys).  About 50 species are discussed in detailed species accounts, and illustrated by P. Buerschaper.  The illustrations are not static portraits as typically found in fish guides, but rather illustrations of the species in a more natural active pose.  There are lake by lake checklists of species and a discussion of the historical forces structuring the fauna.  I expect this is a book that one would find in the visitor’s center gift shop for the park.





Fishes of Ontario
by H. H. MacKay
The Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. 1963 (reprinted 1969). xi + 292, illustrated with color plates black and white photographs, drawings and maps. Cloth covered boards, no dust jacket that I’ve ever seen.

When I first acquired a copy of this book, my initial reaction was it should be retitled "GAME Fishes of Ontario." Certainly, large and game species are covered in detail, with the only entry in the Cyprinid chapter being carp.

With this understanding, the information presented on the species covered is extensive and detailed, with management and fisheries details included.

Individual species distributions are not mapped, but there is discussion of the historical hydrology of the region.

The color plates are nice, a little stylized – apparently made for this book.







Vertebrates of Ontario
by Charles William Nash.  1908

Toronto: Dept. of Education, printed by order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario; L.K. Cameron, 1908., illus.  Green cloth covered boards; no dust jacket that I've seen.

Included in this volume are annotated checklists of Ontario vertebrates - fishes, reptiles and batrachians, mammals, birds).  The pagination of this volume is a little odd with pages of each section are numbered separately, fishes are pages 7 - 122 (with a separate index in the back of the volume, pages 83-88).  The species accounts are basic...description, plus a few basics on biology or angling interest). There are a number - 30 or so - unnumbered black and white plates of the fishes.  The are basic fish portraits mostly and signed by C. W. Nash (there are also a few illustrations of birds, but none for mammals, reptiles or batrachians). Inclusion of the taxon “batrachians” certainly tells us were dealing with 19th century taxonomy and systematics.  Often one needs to generate a scorecard of old and current names to use these vintage works, but that certainly does not detract from their utility or interest.

My copy is from the library of Dr. Roland B. Orr (1852 - 1933), an archeologist and Director of Provincial Museum Toronto; I have a second copy that is signed by the author.









Fishes of northern Ontario, north of the Albany River
by R. A. Ryder, W. B. Scott and E. J. Crossman.  1964
Toronto:  Royal Ontario Museum. Life Sciences Division, Contribution No. 60, 30 pp., maps.  Soft cover

The authors report on a series of surveys from this region between Lake Superior and the Hudson Bay.  The species are listed with miscellaneous notes given and a listing of collection sites.  There is some hydrographic and biogeographic discussion.









Québec



Guide des poissons d'eau douce du Québec et leur distribution dans l'est du Canada
by Louis Bernatchez and Marie Giroux.  1991
La Prairie Québec: Éditions Broquet. xxiv + 304 pp., illus. (some in color), maps.  Soft cover
ISBN 2-89000-293-4

This guide covers the fishes of Quebec in eastern Canada.  There is a tabular key to families, but no keys within families.  The front matter is quite limited, so the main body of the text consists of species accounts.  Each species account is illustrated with a color photograph (often aquarium held individuals, some freshly preserved specimens), and a shaded area map.  The species account text gives the basics - identification, habitat, biology, remarks.  There is no bibliography.








Les poissons du Québec
by E. Juchereau-Duchesnay.  1964

Montréal, Éditions de l'Homme. 1964.  47 p. illus. 26 cm.  Soft cover

Thirty nine of the native fishes (plus carp) of Quebec are covered in this little guide.  Each species account covers a full page.  A black and white drawing of the fish is accompanied by out-line drawings showing diagnostic traits (drawings by De St-Denys Duchesnay are original to this work – at least I haven’t seen them elsewhere).  Species accounts contain the basics.  There are no maps or keys and only a brief introduction. Reproduced on the front and back covers are colored photographs of 4 species.

Key to game and commercial fishes of the Province of Quebec - 1st English edition
by Vianney Legendre. 1954

Montréal, Société canadienne d'écologie, 1954. 180 p. illus., maps. 23 cm. Soft cover

Detailed, illustrated keys for the bulk of this report, with some 80 species keyed.  A glossary and bibliography are also provided. 80 plates of fishes are also included.  The key is limited to larger species, those of sport or commercial import.  A key that is missing major elements of the fauna (such as most of the smaller species) can be frustrating to use.

Clef des cyprinidés ou ménés du Québec

by Vianney Legendre. 1960
Montréal: Ministère de la chasse et de le pêche, Office de biologie. Le Jeune Naturaliste 10 (9/10): 178-212 pp., illus. 1960. paper bound.

Here is a guide to finding, catching and identifying cyprinid fishes from Quebec.  The key to species is detailed and illustrated. It contains about 30 species and a few subspecies.

Les Poissons de nos Eaux
by Claude Mélançon.  1936
Montréal, Granger frères, 248 pp. illus. in black and white, 2nd  edition., revised  augmented.  Soft cover.

Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 455 pp. : illus in black and white. 1973, 4th edition., revised  augmented.  Soft cover.

“The Fishes of our Waters” covers the ichthyofauna of Quebec – both freshwater and marine fishes.  The groups are ordered taxonomically without regard to freshwater or marine origin.  The species accounts contain descriptive information and tidbits of basic biology.  Each is illustrated with a black and white drawing (I believe I have a poster of Quebec fishes some place that is illustrated with these same drawings).  There are no maps or no keys.

Mexico

Coastal



Catálogo sistemático de los peces marinos que penetran a las aguas continentales de México con aspectos zoogeográficos y ecologicos
by José Luis Castro-Aguirre.  1978
México: Departamento de Pesca, Dirección General del Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Serie Cientifica No. 19,  xi + 298 pp., illus.  Soft cover

This volume documents the marine fishes known from freshwaters of Mexico.  It is an important and useful reference on this topic.  About 350 species are covered.  Each is included in an identification key, a synonymy is offered, and notes on their occurrence in Mexican waters or biology given as appropriate.  The volume ends with a zoogeographic discussion, an extensive bibliography and outline drawings of a representative of each family.









Listados Faunisticos de Mexico. IX. Catálogo sistemático de tiburones (Elasmobranchii: Selachimorpha)

by Héctor Espinosa Pérez, Jose Luis Castro-Aguirre and Leticia Huidobro Campos.  2004

México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Biología, 2004.  134 pp., illus. Soft cover

ISBN 970-32-1422-3

The elasmobranchs of Mexican waters are detailed in this report. One hundred and four species are keyed and diagnosed. Each species account, opened with a detailed synonymy, is telegraphic in content and is illustrated with a drawing. A lengthy bibliography is included.










Freshwater (general)


A contribution to the ichthyology of Mexico
by Seth Eugene Meek.  1902
Field Columbian Museum, Zoological Series, Chicago.  III(6):  63-128, pls. xiv-xxxi. 25 cm.  wrappers.

Seth Meek, then of the Field Museum in Chicago, made two extended collecting trips to Mexico.  Jordan and Evermann had just published their monumental survey of North American fishes.  Jordan’s students, such as Meek, apparently thought ichthyology in the US was finished (at least for a while), and sought less thoroughly worked faunas to the south and elsewhere.  This 1902 report details fishes collected by Meek on his trip in the Spring of 1901 with collector Frank Lutz.  They started in the borderland of New Mexico and Mexico and worked their way as far south as the Rio Lerma.  This accounting details their collections — species are diagnosed, keyed and some 30 species thought to be new to science are described (as I survey the list I see many that are no longer considered valid).  The plates include a few photographs, but are mostly the drawings of W. B. Douglas.  Meek was a talented ichthyologist and it shows in his work.



Yucatan Peninsula


Fishes of the Yucatan Peninsula
by Carl Leavitt Hubbs.  1936
IN: The cenotes of Yucatan; a zoological and hydrographic survey by A. S. Pearse (1936) Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication No. 457, 157-287, 15 pls.

A series of collections of fishes from the cenotes of Yucatan for the core of this study, augmented by small collections made previously by other researches.  Dr. Hubbs, at this point still at the University of Michigan, reviews the fauna, describing a number of new taxa - 2 new genera, 8 new species and 18 new subspecies.  Most of these taxa, are no longer recognized – including the 8 subspecies of Cichlasoma urophthalmus.  Pretty standard stuff from Dr. Hubbs (who was usually assisted by his wife Laura), taxa are diagnosed and described.  Tables of data presented, with 15 plates of black and white photographs.  My copy is a separate or reprint from the larger volume on the Pearse expedition.




United States

State by State Guides and Revisions



Alabama

The Fishes of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Region of Alabama with Ecologic and Taxonomic Notes
by Maurice F Mettee.  1978

Geological Survey of Alabama, Bulletin 115, 1978, 182 pages, illus., 1 color plate, soft cover

The title of this report pretty much sums it up.  One hundred and thirty six species are included (5 were undescribed at the time of publication).  Each species is keyed; species accounts are illustrated with a black and white photograph of a preserved specimen and include the standard details of distribution, description, taxonomy, basic biology and conservation status.  The introductory matter is brief, and an afterward covers details of endangered and threatened species.  One color plate illustrates Etheostoma nuchale.









Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin
by Maurice F. Mettee, Patrick E. O’Neil and J. Malcolm Pierson.  1996
Birmingham, Ala.: Oxmoor House, xii + 820 pp, illus. in black and white and color.  Maps.  Glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket issued
ISBN 0-8487-1485-7

A few states still lack a modern “Fishes of....” guide, key or revision.  Alabama has three.  This one is expensively presented, but the fact this wasn’t reflected in the list price indicates substantial support for it’s publication.  The front matter covers in detail the natural setting and basics of Alabama, as they apply to the fish fauna.  There are large drainage maps and basin by basin tables of fish distributions.  Illustrated keys to families, genera and species are presented.  Each species account spans two pages.  On one side is a multicolored spot map of distribution.  The base map continues the major drainages beyond state lines – I like this feature, but it is pretty rare in such works.  A shaded area range map of over all distribution is also given.  The species account is illustrated with a color photograph of a freshly preserved specimen; these are presented large enough to be useful.  The text is pretty basic – description, distribution, habitat and biology.  References are cited.  This is not necessarily a comprehensive revision of the fauna, rather a guide.







Fishes of the lower Tombigbee River system in Alabama and Mississippi
by Maurice F. Mettee, Patrick E. O’Neil, Royal D. Suttkus and J. Malcolm Pierson.  1987
Geological Survey of Alabama, Bulletin 107, 186 pp., maps.  Wrappers.

The authors here have evaluated several hundred fish collections from the Tombigbee Rivers system and generated an outline of the fauna.  Among the 144 localities sampled, 121 species of fishes (native and non) were encountered.  This report offers a detailed introduction of the hydrology, geology, limnology of the area and details each of the collections studied.  Each species encountered gets a page with a spot map and brief comments on distribution, abundance and such.  This literature of the fauna is also exhaustively surveyed.  I would guess this work is a useful tool for managers and conservation workers; checklists and an understanding of distributions are essential first steps for broader research into a fauna.  My copy comes from the library of Robert R. Miller.







Freshwater fishes of Alabama
by William F. Smith-Vaniz.  1968
Auburn University, Agricultural Experiment Station, vii + 211 pp., illus. in black and white, map.  Faux leather covered boards, no dust jacket issued (at least that I’ve seen).

This useful little volume is more than a set of illustrated keys, but less than revisionary volume on the state’s ichthyofauna.  A brief introduction describes history of ichthyology in Alabama.  Identification keys are illustrated with drawings and photographs.  The species accounts are brief, with black-and-white photographs grouped at the close of the volume.  There is a single two-color drainage map, but no species distribution maps, a table of distributions, and a discussion of zoogeography.  A lengthy literature cited is also included.

Alaska


Alaska's Animals and Fishes
by Frank Dufresne, illustrated by Bob Hines.  1946
A.S. Barnes and Company, New York, , xvi + 297 pp., illus., some color plates.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

Here is a fishing/hunting/outdoors book in a somewhat traditional vein.  The “Animals” of the title, of course, means “mammals” (including marine mammals); “Fishes” are fishes.  The author gives us basics of their biology along with anecdotes about hunting or encountering in the wild.   There are numerous pen-and-ink drawings of creatures and fishes, and a number of color plates that portray the animals in their natural word.  I image this was a popular book for armchair travelers, naturalists and hunters in its day.




The Freshwater Fishes of Alaska
by James Edwin Morrow.  1980
Anchorage, Alaska: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company.  xv + 248 pp., illus.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-88240-134-3

This work offers a detailed coverage of the Alaskan fish fauna.  The front matter deals mainly  with fish identification, little background on the hydrology, etc. of the region.  A key to families is presented, as are keys to species.  Species accounts appear in fairly standard format.  They are illustrated with an outline sketch of the species and a shaded area range map.  The accounts themselves are lengthy and detailed, many including numerous literature citations (making this volume a useful entrance into the literature of Alaskan fishes and fisheries – at least up to 1980).  A gallery of color plates includes color photographs or paintings of many of the fishes covered in the text.

List of fishes of Alaska and adjacent waters with a guide to some of their literature

by Jay C. Quast and Elizabeth L. Hall. 1972

Seattle, Washington. NOAA Technical Report NMFX SSRF-658, 47 pp. Soft cover

The species from about 60 or so families (marine and freshwater) are listed in this checklist. Each species is listed with regional records noted, with the associated citation. “Some of their literature” as stated in the title is a lengthy bibliography. A little dated, but this would allow a pretty efficient entrance into the literature of the northern eastern Pacific – at least up to 1972.

Arizona

Fish of Arizona Field Guide
by Dan Johnson
Adventure Publications Inc., Cambridge MN. 2008. 174 pp., illus in color. Soft bound.
ISBN 1 59193 081 2

This small format volume is one of a growing series of state or regional fish guides from this publisher. The handy size and coated cover and pages make them actual field guides that would fit in a tackle box, pocket or knapsack. Standard information on native and non-native species is presented with quality color paintings of the fishes. The book does not contain identification keys, but where similar species might be confused there are detailed drawings of the differences.

Emphasis is on angling and obviously the target audience is not scientists or managers. Since Arizona is home to relatively few native gamefish, non-natives are prominent in this book. Having said that, the natives are presented with good information (distilled from other sources), on equal footing with the gamefishes – something that you do not see in such books of a generation ago.

Also - I really would like authors of these books to explicitly state (and restate) the environmental and biodiversity cost of all the introduced gamefishes in western states. Certainly, people enjoy angling, but they should be reminded of the damage that their sportfishes and baitfishes have wrought on native ichthyofaunas.

In general - for regions or states that lack a more scientific faunal guide or revision, or for which such works are dated or large and cumbersome, these small guides fill a useful niche. The ones I’ve seen are nicely done – and I hope they serve to allow the average angler or citizen a better understanding of their local faunas.

One final thing – This volume and the series in general consistently use the word “fish” where the proper word is “fishes.”
 
 



Fishes of Arizona
by W. L. Minckley.  1973
Phoenix:  Arizona Game and Fish Dept., 1973. xv + 293 pp. illus. 24 cm.  Issued in hardcover, without dust jacket and soft cover; with tipped in errata sheet

Here is the first comprehensive accounting of Arizona fishes.  The author, only 10 years in Arizona at the time of publication, brings to this volume his great depth of knowledge and keen and insightful eye.  Front matter is fairly typical of such a guide – likely modeled on Frank Cross’s Handbook of Fishes of Kansas (Mink studied ichthyology under Cross).  There is a key to native and non-native species.  Each species account includes descriptive, life history and conservation data.  Mink once told me that his book was “published by the lowest bidder – and it shows.”  The maps and photographs are, in particular, poorly reproduced.  The title on the spine is also printed upside down (at least in regard to most books published in the USA).  This is an important work, updated and expanded in Mink’s second edition (published posthumously) - Minckely and Marsh Inland Fishes of the Greater Southwest: Chronicle of a Vanishing Biota (2010).

Arkansas


Fish - Identification of game and food fishes found in Arkansas
by D. Leroy Gray.  1967

University of Arkansas, Agricultural Extension Service, Circular 500 (rev.). 24 p., illlus.

The Agricultural Extension Service offers here an angler’s guide to common game fishes found in Arkansas.  About 30 species are presented (native and non-native), in a random order (from a taxonomic perspective); a simple drawing illustrates each account, along with a shaded area range map of Arkansas and a few basic fasts as to the identification and fishery interest of the species.  Latin names are confined to the back cover in a checklist.








Fish - A guide to the fish of Arkansas
by Mike Pledger. No Date (1980s?)

Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission,18 unnumbered pages, illus. in color, Soft cover

This is a picture booklet devoted mainly to the larger fishes of Arkansas, mostly those likely to be encountered or sought by anglers. Native and non-native game fishes each get a page, with a color photograph (often a photo of a fish dangling from a hook – my least favorite way to see a fish presented). Basic information that would be of interest to an angler is presented. Non-game fishes (Catostomidae) or smaller species (Cyprinidae, Percidae) are presented by family only – a photograph and short paragraph. This is the type of publication that one might find on the pamphlet rack in a bait shop.







Fishes of Arkansas
by Henry W. Robison and Thomas M. Buchanan.  1988
Fayetteville, Arkansas, University of Arkansas Press, 536 pp., illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 1-55728-000-2 (hard cover); ISBN 1-55728-001-2 (paperback)


Arkansas has a large native fish fauna drawing from several major regional or habitat types (Ozarks, main stream Mississippi, southern coastal plain, etc.).  This book is one of those that was obviously long in the making.  There is an earlier Key to the Fishes of Arkansas (1973) by the second author, and I would guess that work provided the foundation for this one.  Extensive front matter covers the history, hydrology and other environmental factors of the state.  A section on fish identification includes a key to families.  The keys to genera and species are in each family chapter.  The species accounts are detailed.  Each is lead by an illustration of the species, a black and white photograph (some drawn from Miller and Robison’s Fishes of Oklahoma, 1973) or a color photograph (sometimes the excellent in vivo shots by W. N. Roston).  Distributions are shown on a spot map of a drainage map of the state, with a shaded area range map showing the overall distribution.  Species accounts include numerous citations, and a literature cited is provided.  This is an attractively presented volume and the authors were allowed plenty of space to cover their topic.  This is definitely one of the nicer state fish books out there.
Publication of the book was subsidied (as is often the case).  This keeps the retail price down, allows for a larger printer run and, if the authors desire, an uncramped presentation.  This print run of Fishes of Arkansas must have been fairly large, and it far exceeded the initial demand.  By the late 1990s copies were readily available from book discounters.  Around this time, it was also common in European bookshops at a steeply discounted price.  A paper bound copy was apparently produced, but I don't think I've ever seen a copy.




California



Warmwater game fishes of California
Anonymous.  1964 (1981)
Sacramento, California, State of California, Department of Fish and Game.  1964 (revised editions 1973, 1981)  54 pp., illus.

Warm water here is defined as water too warm for trout.  For California, the sad state of affairs is that of the 24 species covered here, all but 3 are non-native, species introduced from east of the Rocky Mountains or from Africa.  The only natives included here are the Archoplites interuptus and a few marine things that straggle into the Salton Sea.  Each species account includes a black and white illustration (they seem to be drawn from various sources), with basic descriptive, distributional and life history data provided.  I would certainly like to see the negative impact of these invasive forms highlighted in works like this more clearly (or at all).







The Warm-water Games Fishes of California

by Brian Curtis.
California Game and Fish Vol. 38 (4): 255-274, 10 color plates. San Francisco, CA. 1949.

The first sentence of this paper (my copy is a reprint extracted from the California Game and Fish Bulletin) reads: When Nature was handing out her gifts so generously to California she was guilty of one oversight: she left a serious scarcity of game fishes in the warmer inland waters of the State.

A quote that offers a key insight into fishery management of an earlier generation. Natural waters and habitats, in this view, served mainly as sources of commercial or recreational extraction. Little thought was given to the native fauna and flora present. “Conservation” often only applied to those organisms suitable for hook or shot. In fisheries management, habitat improvement often meant eliminating pesky native fishes to make room for the often introduced game fishes. The serious, lasting damage wrought by these invaders to native faunas was not well understood, nor was it an important consideration in management.

Having said all that – this is an interesting little piece. It sketches out the biology, management and introduction history of a number of games fish groups introduced to California’s waters from east of the Rockies. Covered are the usual players for western state introductions -- various ictalurid catfishes (Ameiurus and Ictalurus), perch (Perca), a brace of centrarchids (sunfishes, crappie and blackbasses, Lepomis, Pomoxis and Micropterus) and the striped bass (Morone). The only native species covered and illustrated is California’s sole native centrarchid, Archeoplites interuptus (Sacramento perch).
The color plates are mostly those first seen in Forbes and Richardon’s Fishes of Illinois (1908, 1920).
The author was a California fisheries biologist, who also authored The Life Story of the Fish – His Manners and Morals (first edition1938), a very readable account of fish biology.

Fishes of Yosemite National Park

by Willis A. Evans, 1944

Yosemite Nature Notes January 1944, Vol 23 (1): 20 pp., illus.

This is the original edition of this angling / fish guide to Yosemite by W. Evans, Ranger Naturalist. It focuses on trout with no illustrations and little mention of other fishes. Two color illustrations and some black and white photographs of fishes, habitat and hatcheries are included.

Fishes of Yosemite National Park, 1961 edition

Willis A. Evans, Orthello L. Wallis and Glenn D. Gallison.

The National Park Service. 30 pp., illus. Revised edition 1961

Here’s another in the genre of small angling guides one might pick up at a sporting goods store, Parks Service Headquarters or possibly at a start or county fair in the Nature Building. Fishes of Yosemite is the title – and there is lots about this topic covered: exotic vs. native, angling issues, management and stocking, a section called “enemies of trout.” Most of this comes from the angling point of view and focuses on salmonids (as would be expected). Illustrated with black and white drawings and some photographs.

The status and distribution of the freshwater fishes of Southern California

by Camm Swift, Thomas R. Haglund, Mario Ruiz and Robert N. Fischer.  1993

Bull. Southern California Academy of Sciences. 1993. 92(3): 101-167, illus.

A handy summary of native and non-native fishes of Southern California, from Monterrey down to the border.  Illustrated with maps.

Colorado


Guide to the fishes of Colorado
by William Curtis Beckman.  1952 (1953 printing)
University of Colorado Museum, Leaflet No. 11, 110 pp., illus. Soft cover



Beckman here provides a basic guides to the native and non-native fishes of Colorado.  The front matter is brief, a little about state waters and a primer on fish identification.  There are keys and basic species accounts.  There are no maps, each species is illustrated with a sketchy outline drawing.  Comments regarding Moxostoma aureolum like “It is of little use in Colorado” date this work.
There is a 1974 printing that is nearly identical to the 1952 edition.  It’s no longer identified as Leaflet No. 11 and the professional association of the author is dropped.  It’s also printed on heavier paper.











Zoology of Colorado
by Theodore D. A. Cockerell.  1927
Boulder, Colorado, University of Colorado 1927. vii + 262 p. illus., plates. 24 cm.  Cloth covered boards.

This little volume was widely traveled – it bears stamps for the Soil Conservation Service of Colorado and Texas (Amarillo), and labels from the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater (currently Oklahoma State University).  I found it in a bookstore in Phoenix.  It is Volume III is the University of Colorado Semicentennial Series - 1877 - 1927.  It contains, chapter by chapter, accounts of major animal groups - invertebrates and vertebrates.  There is a chapter on fossil fishes and one on living fishes.  These chapters are not guides or checklists, really more in line of descriptive overviews.  The fauna is discussed in distributional and taxonomic frameworks.  The opinions are Carl L. Hubbs are referenced a number of times in footnotes in the living fish chapter.  In the fossil fish chapter is mention of the land bridge that must have been necessary to explain the shared presence of cichlid fishes in African and South America – still a few decades to go before Wegener’s ideas were rediscovered.  There are text figures and a few plates, but none in the fish chapters.

Fishes of Colorado

by Max M. Ellis.  1914
Boulder: University of Colorado, Studies Vol. XI(1), 136 pp., 12 black and white plates, maps.  Wrappers

Colorado draws its fish fauna from the two major North American ichthyofaunas, eastern and western.  This report covers this fauna.  Front matter includes an introduction to the hydrology and geography of Colorado, and a bit on the history of ichthyology in the State.  Identification keys are present.  The bulk of the volume consists of species accounts (for native and non-native species), which include descriptive information, accounts of natural history and a list of site where collected (there are no species distribution maps).  The report ends with 12 pages of black and white plates, consisting of black and white photographs of preserved specimens.  This is one of the earliest state fish guides, and documents the fauna before numerous anthropogenic changes were inflicted on it.

Fishes Of Colorado

by W. Harry Everhart and Wayne R. Seaman. 1971.

Colorado Game Fish and Parks, 75 pp., illus., soft coverThis small guide is fairly typical of those published by Game and Fish Agencies and an excellent example of this genre. It’s written fishery professionals primarily to assist anglers and interested naturalists in identifying fishes. It contains no revisionary details or ecology or evolution. The details provided are geared towards identification and capture, the type of information found in a fishery class as opposed to a zoology class. A key to families is presented and some families have keys to species. The species of angling interest are illustrated in a color centerfold; other species are illustrated with line drawings. There are no maps. The first author has written a quite similar work entitled Fishes of Maine (1966), and a textbook in fisheries Management, Principles of Fishery Science (1971).







The Fish of Colorado
by William L. Reavely.  no date
Denver, Colorado Game and Fish Department, 17 pp., illus.  Soft cover

This is a Game and Fish type booklet aimed at anglers and amateur naturalists.  It primarily covers game and larger species (native and non-native).  Basic information is provided, and each species is illustrated with a small black and white drawing for photograph.  There is also a little information on game fish production and management.  The cover is in color.  This book is a little unusual in that Latin names are not offered – even in angling books these are usually present.  There is no date that I can find for this book.  I’m guessing 1950s – the address lacks a zip code, so that dates it to the early 1960s at the latest.

Game Fish of Colorado – an identification guide for sport fish commonly caught in Colorado

by John Woodling. 1980 (reprinted 1984)

Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver, CO. 40 pp., illus. in color. Soft cover

Colorado needs a state fish book. It’s one of the few states lacking a recent comprehensive revision/guide. What we have is older works, or booklets like this. It’s pretty typical of this type of work – aimed at the angler, who, it should be said, is the primary public ‘consumer’ of fishes in streams and lakes. About 30 species of native and non-native fishes are covered. A live tank held specimen of each is shown (in color), with some basics of their biology and angling interest. A few non-game and “forage” species get a few smaller accounts.








Colorado's Little Fish:  A guide to the lesser known fishes in the state of Colorado
by John Woodling.  1985
Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver, CO, 77 pp., illus. in color, maps.  Soft cover.

Colorado is one of those states without recent or comprehensive state fish book.  This guide covers the smaller, non-game species (native and non-native).  Introductory sections detail the history of ichthyology in Colorado, hydrology and fish basics.  Identification keys are included.  The species accounts include color photographs of captive, living individuals and shaded area range maps.  The text details the basics of the biology of each species covered.











Connecticut



A Fishery Survey of Important Connecticut Lakes
State Board of Fisheries and Game Lake and Pond Survey Unit. 1942
State geological and Natural History Survey.  Bulletin No. 63, 339 pp., illus. in black and white, maps, tables, diagrams. Wrappers.

This is a fishery survey encompassing a wide range of topics.  The habitats in question are numerous small lakes and ponds that dot the Connecticut country side.  Fishery management and limnology occupy the opening sections.  Surveys collected 40 species, many introduced to Connecticut waters.  The biology of these fishes is detailed - life history, diet, parasites and such.  This work is illustrated with maps, graphs, charts and photographs and drawings of the species in question.  This work is a good example of what fishery biologists can do when given a charge and resources.





A fishery survey of the lakes and ponds of Connecticut
State Board of Fisheries and Game Lake and Pond Survey Unit.  1959
Hartford. 395 pp. illus. in color and black and white; graphs, maps (some folding); soft bound

This work is a mix of limnology and fishery ecology.  Numerous lakes, ponds and reservoir were surveyed by the unit.  This report describes their work and results.  The emphasis is on the larger, sport or commercial species (native and non-native).  Many of these are illustrated (in black and white and color photographs, with their life history and management discussed.  Scores of these ponds, lakes and reservoirs are mapped and described.







A Pictorial Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut
by Robert P. Jacobs and Eileen B. O’Donnell.  2009
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Bulletin 42., xvi + 242, illus. in color, maps.  PaperbackISBN 978-0-942085-15-0

    A big book for a small state, which allows for a somewhat finer scale coverage of the fauna that you would find in a larger state.  Looking at the map, one also realizes how close all the Connecticut freshwaters are to the ocean.  And you see more discussion of natural ponds than in many other state faunal guides.  Just over 80 species (native and introduced) are covered here.  Introductory material sets the stage for the biology and human impact/interactions with the ichthyofauna.  Species accounts include essential information on range, identification, biology and such.  Large color photographs of freshly caught or live individuals are used; there are often multiple photographs to show variation or age differences.  Distributions are given on Connecticut only spot maps.  Encoded in the maps is more information than I think I’ve seen in any other work, with records are coded in two colors and several shapes.















Freshwater fishes of Connecticut
by Walter R. Whitworth, Peter L. Berrien and Walter T. Keller.  1968
State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut, Dept. of Environmental Protection, Bull. 101, vi + 134, illus., maps.  Soft cover, stapled.

Some 82 species of native and non-native fishes are covered in this guide.  A brief introduction is offered.  Connecticut is a small state – and the map on page three shows the density of collections that is possible is a small state.  A table lists the species according to habitat types and drainage basins.  Keys to families and species are provided.  The species accounts contain the basic information; each is illustrated with a spot map of the state, and a black and white illustration of the species.  Many of the illustrations are drawn from the collection of the Smithsonian/U.S. Fish Commission; others appear to have been made for this book.  There is a 1976 printing that appears to be identical to the 1968, other than alterations to the cover and title and copyright page.  The 1968 is printed on slightly heavier paper.






Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut. 2nd Edition
by Walter R. Whitworth.  1996
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.  Bulletin 114, 240 pp., illus in black and white, maps, color frontis piece
ISBN 0942081-08-0 (soft bound)
ISBN 0942081-07-2 (cloth bound)

Nearly 30 years after the publication of the first edition, and 20 after the second printing of the first edition, here is an updated and revised guide to Connecticut’s fishes.  The front matter has been expanded putting the fauna in hydrographic and historical contexts.  Conservation issues are also included.  Identification keys are retained.  The species accounts are basic, the spot maps found in the first edition have been dropped.  The families are presented in alphabetical order – an odd and unusual choice.  Numerous post-1968 citations are included in the text and literature cited.
My copy is a soft bound edition, I haven’t see a hard bound copy, so can’t describe it (dust jacket, etc.)







Dakotas

Fishes of the Dakotas

by South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, North Dakota Department of Game and Fish, and Dakota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. No date. Single folded sheet poster. 22" x 32.

Here is a poster, folded for mailing, of the fishes of the upper Great Plaines of the U.S. - the Dakotas. On side has color paintings (Joe Tomelleri’s always excellent renderings, drawn from Fishes of the Central United States, 1990), mostly of game fishes or large species (native and exotic). The other side has the same images in black and white with minimal details about the species in the Dakotas.

Delaware

Florida



Guide to the Reptiles, Amphibians and Fresh-Water Fishes of Florida
by Archie Fairly Carr and Coleman J. Goin.  1955
Gainesville: University of Florida Press, xi + 341 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover
Library of Congress No. 55-11911

Florida is one of those states that is lacking a comprehensive guide to freshwater fishes.  Compilers of such a guide, checklist or revision, face a large and diverse southeastern North American, freshwater fish fauna, and one that shares its waters with many marine frequenters of freshwater habitats.  Books for most coastal states include a few of the most aggressive and common freshwater users from the marine realm, but I expect the nature of many habitats in Florida mean that marine fish penetration of freshwater is quite extensive.  Complicating issues with this already diverse fauna are human impacts on the habitats.  These include the usual degradation associated with urban centers and agriculture, along with swamp draining, canal building and a large selection of unpredictable and ever changing introductions of tropical forms from the aquarium trade.
This guide, which shares about half its pages with reptiles and amphibians, offers limited front matter to set the stage.  There’s a key to species.  The species accounts are to-the-point summarizing the basics (distribution, identification, natural history).  A series of half-tone drawings (somewhat stylized) illustrate the species.  A number of members from otherwise marine families are included.  My copy is paper bound; I don’t know if there was a hard cover edition.  The fish section runs from pages 9 - 150.




The fisheries of the Indian River, Florida - Indian River and its fishes
by Barton W. Evermann and Barton A. Bean.  1896
Senate Misc. Doc. No. 46, 54th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 1-26, 37 pls; also Rep. U.S. Fish Commission for 1896 (1998), 227-262, 37 pls.

This report opens with a description of the river.  A species by species discussion of the important commercial follows.  The entire known ichthyofauna of the rivers is 106 species, which are listed in an annotated checklist.  Nearly all listed are marine forms.  Bound following this report (and before the 37 plates are presented in the Senate Document version) is a second paper by William A. Wilcox entitled “Commercial Fisheries of Indian River, Florida”(pp. 27-40), with many tables and charts.  The 37 plates portray mostly marine species and are the plates commonly seen in this era in U.S. Government reports.










Check-List of the Fishes of Florida
by Barton Warren Evermann, Barton and William Converse Kendall.  1900
Report of the U.S. Fish Commission for 1899 (1900), 25: 35-103.  Extracted from volume.
     The authors surveyed the literature and available specimens to produce this, the first check list of Florida fishes.  As written elsewhere, this is the first step to a rigorous accounting of a regional fauna.  Freshwater species and marine species in coastal water to a depth of 1000 fathoms are included.  That makes for 576 species.  Species are listed with a common name and literature references on which the record is based.  My copy was extracted roughly from the larger volume; I don’t know if this paper was issued as a separate, but I expect it was.














Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida:  Vol. II - Fishes
edited by Carter R. Gilbert.  1992.
Gainesville, FL, University of Florida Press, 1992, xl + 240 p., illus.
ISBN 0-8131-1121-3 and 0-8130-1122-1

This book contains detailed species accounts for each species considered endangered in the state.  Each account includes a drawing (many of which are new to me, perhaps prepared for the volume, or another work on Florida’s fishes), spot range map of Florida and shaded area map for overall distribution.  The text of each account covers biology, listing history, current status and suggested remedies.  Species end up on endangered lists for a number of reasons, in the case of a regional accounting like this one, some of the species are listed because the Florida populations are on the edge of their contracting ranges.  I note that as of the publication date, there are/were several species that are undescribed and endangered.  A lot of good information included here and a model of how a book like this should look.  It was issued in paperback and hard bound (green cloth covered boards); it was not issued with a dust jacket.

Fishes of the Santa Fe River System
by Thomas R. Hellier, Jr.  1967
Bulletin of the Florida State Museum (Biological Sciences), II (1): 1-46, 9 figs.
     The survey which the report documents was the MSc project of the author.  A description of the river and its habitats is followed by an annotated list of the 60 species which were either collected during the study or verified in museum collections.  A nice piece of basic ichthyology.












Fishes of Silver Springs, Florida
by Carl L. Hubbs and E. Ross Allen.  1943
The Proceedings of the Florida Academy of Sciences 6 (December): 110-130, 4 figs., separate.
    The authors of this little report document the fish fauna of this habitat which in their time had already been heavily impacted by human activities and development.  About 40 species are documented by observations or collections.  As appropriate observations on their occurrence and biology in the system are described.  Four photographs of underwater scenes are included. 













Freshwater fishes of southern Florida
by William F. Loftus and James A. Kushlan.  1987
Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, 31(4): 148-344, illus., wrappers
ISSN 0071-6154

The tip of south Florida here includes freshwaters in the Cypress Swamp, Shark River Slough, East Everglades and the Coastal Ridge to the south of U.S. Hwy 41.  These coastal waterways are home to freshwater fishes and a number of marine invaders.  The authors describe various aspects of the hydrography and ecology of the region (including photographs of the habitats).  One hundred and eighty-one sites were surveyed.  Species accounts, with accompanying spot maps discuss the biology, taxonomy and distribution of each species (native and non-native).  And there are lots of non-native fishes in Florida.  There are no illustrations of fishes.
My copy is ex-library from the collection of Reeve M. Bailey.












Georgia

The Freshwater Fishes of Georgia

by Michael D. Dahlberg and Donald C. Scott.  1971.
Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Sciences, 29, 64 pp., maps

As of yet, there is no state guide to the freshwater fishes of Georgia, making it one of the few states without such a reference.  These authors provide an annotated checklist covering 209 species, 11 of which are introduced.  This work has a couple maps and discusses distributional patterns in Georgia fishes, but this is not an identification guide (no keys).  It’s also 40 years old...likely there is something more recent of which I’m not aware.  Faunal understanding starts with taxonomy – the checklist.

Fishes of the Okefenokee Swamp
by Joshua Laerm and Branley J. Branson.  1986
University of Georgia Press, ix + 118 pp., illus. in black and white.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-8203-0820

About 40 species are covered in this interesting, attractive and well-presented little volume, targeted at the general reader or amateur naturalist.  All inhabit the Okefenokee Swamp in SE Georgia and NE Florida.  Thus, here is a book with natural biogeographic boundaries, rather than political ones – there are relatively few of these.  The front matter includes and introduction to the Swamp and an introduction to fish biology and identification; there’s also a large map and a key to families and species.  The species accounts are detailed with the standard information on identification, habitat and biology.  A “Comments” section generally seems to present the ‘human interactions’ facts; issues such as commercial or sport value.  A lengthy literature cited is offered for those wishing to dig deeper.  Each species is illustrated with a black and white drawing.  There were produced by several students working on their senior theses in natural history illustration.  They are generally quite nice.







Hawaii



Freshwater Fishing in Hawaii

by Clyde M. Morita. 1963 (1981 printing)
Division of Aquatic Resources, Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu, Hawaii. 21 pp., illus. in black and white. Softcover

OK, this is really a fishing booklet.  I generally avoid angling/fish books, but this one made its way on to my self, so her it is.  A discussion of where to fish and the various legalities regarding freshwater fishing in Hawaii are covered.  Then we get species accounts of the angling fauna.  About a dozen species are covered – not one of them native.  We have fishes from North American, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.  The only fishes native to the freshwater of Hawaii --  their remarkable freshwater gobies -- get a very short paragraph.






Idaho




Fishes of Idaho
by James C. Simpson and Richard L. Wallace.  1978 and 1982
Moscow: University Press of Idaho, [first edition], 238 pp., illus. in black and white, maps.  Soft bound
ISBN 0-89301-058-8
Moscow: University Press of Idaho, 2nd edition, 238 pp., illus. in black and white, maps.  Soft bound
ISBN 0-89301-084-7

This guide covers the 67 species known to the authors to be reproducing in the state of Idaho – the breakdown on that is Thirty-nine native and 28 introduced.
As is often the case, Fishes of Idaho evolved over decades from earlier working manuscripts on the fauna in question, in this case by the senior author.  A short introduction introduces the region and gives instructions on fish identification.  An illustrated key to fishes is offered.  The species accounts are fairly detailed, covering the basics of identification, distribution, biology and human interactions (sometimes couched in terms of “usefulness to man”).  Each is illustrated with a full page spot map, and a black and white illustration of the species.  Every state should have such a guide; this is a good one.
The 1978 and 1982 revised edition are nearly identical as near as I can see.  The earlier edition (cover to left) is slightly smaller.  Spot checking the text, I couldn't find any differences.  Changes may be limited to minor corrections and updates.  The 1982 edition states second edition on title page.







Native Fishes of Idaho
by Richard L. Wallace and Donald W. Zaroban.  2013
American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland. xvi, 216, illus. in color and black and white, maps. Soft cover
ISBN 978-1-934874-35-6

Most state or regional fish books don’t limit themselves to only native species, as this one does.  My only real interest in non-native fishes is their control and, if possible, their extirpation, so this emphasis  is fine with me.  In the northwest and northern Rockies, the ichthyological, management and public/popular focus is on salmonids.  The authors of this volume also seek to shift focus away from this group and on to the other native members of the fauna.  This, as well, I like.  A fairly brief introduction into the region and fauna sets the stage. and leads us into the taxonomic section of the volume.  Illustrated identification keys are provided.  The species accounts contain the basics – those for salmonids are longer and more detailed.  Distributions are presented as full page spot maps, and most species are illustrated by paintings by Joe Tomelleri (always excellent).  No Tomelleri paintings were available for some of the more obscure species, and they are unillustrated here (surely, a photograph could have been offered for these, rather than leave them faceless, it seems to me).  References are cited.  An appendix lists the (sadly) extensive fauna of introduced species.  With Simpson and Wallace’s Fishes of Idaho (1978) nearly 40 years old now, this volume certainly fills an important niche




Illinois


Sample plates of Illinois fishes by Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History
Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, Urbana, Illinois. 1903. 27 plates loose in wrappers

Here’s an odd piece.  It consists of a gray coarse paper folder containing 27 loose plates from Fishes of Illinois by Forbes and Richardson (1908, 1920) (see review below).  I have found reference to 2 sets of these sample plate sets being issued. Mine is from 1903 (as stated front wrapper).  Another set with 17 plates was issued in 1908 (I’ve seen an online pdf copy of this set); this set is labeled “Second Series” on the front wrapper and “Copyright, 1908, by S. A. Forbes.”  There is no text associated with this second series, and my first series set has none.  The wrappers of my first series set enclose 27 plates.  Eight of them are larger in both dimensions than the remaining ones; the species labels are part of the print, but are different (in font size) than the labels in plates published in the book.  These 9 plates and the wrappers are also punched with 3 holes for a binder (I assume) along the left margin.  The remaining 19 are slightly smaller in both dimensions; they lack printed labels (although many of mine are hand labeled in fountain pen).  Interestingly, many of the plates in this smaller format set are duplicated in the “Second Series” issue, BUT the plates in the “Second Series” set have printed labels (again

 mine in this first series binder don’t).  I haven’t found a decisive citation for the first series set (or been able to examine another set), so I don’t know for sure how many plates it should have.  Thus, I don’t know if my first series set is complete or possibly augmented.  Perhaps these sets of plates were issued to drum up support and interest in the book first published in 1908.  Perhaps there were proofs.  My set is signed on the front wrapper “Mr. Gus Kneussl. With compliments of R. E. Richardson.”

The fishes of Illinois - First Edition
by Stephen Alfred Forbes and Robert Earl Richardson.  1908
Danville, Ill. Pub. by authority of the state Legislature.  1908.  cxxxvi + 357 pp., 76 text figs., color plates

The fishes of Illinois - Second Edition
Stephen Alfred Forbes and Robert Earl Richardson.  1920
Springfield, Ill.: State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Division of the Natural History Survey.  1920.  cxxxvi + 357 pp., 76 text figs., color plates

This classic work exists in nearly identical two editions (detailed below).  It’s another of those works that you should expect to see on the shelf of any serious ichthyologist (at least in North America) with an appreciation of the traditions his or her science.  Just mention "Forbes and Richardson" and any North American ichthyologist should know what you are talking about.  This is the first detailed and illustrated state fish book that comes to mind.  The 136 page introduction (oddly numbered in roman numerals) lays out the basics of Illinois hydrography and fish identification.  Identification keys are provided.  The species accounts are detailed, illustrated with black and white text figures and fine, color chromolithographs of selected species.  The color illustrations set a high standard, they are accurate and elegant (and widely used in many other works in ensuing years decades).  AND illustrated are not just larger species or popular game fishes, but also smaller shiners, suckers and darters.

A few technical observations:  the second edition of this work, in my experience, is encountered far more often than the first.  In fact, I waited years to find a quality copy of a first edition at a price I was willing to pay (another ebay find).  The two editions are nearly identical.  They come in the same cloth covered board binding - both green, the 1908 edition is slightly darker, and the construction of the binding a little different.  The pagination is the same.  The text is essentially the same (as far as I’ve made comparisons).  The title page and copyright page of the second edition were altered to reflect a different printer and second edition status, and they added the names of the governor and some other officials to the copyright page, and the state seal to the title page.  Within the body of the text, underneath the species names in the species accounts are call-outs for the appropriate maps in the accompanying map volume.  These are not present in the first edition. The added line for these map call-outs changes the pagination slightly – a line from the bottom of one page may get kicked over the top of the next page.  This was not, however, enough to alter pagination in any major way (i.e., the table of contents is unaffected).

Rarity note:  This work used to command a fairly high price – $100 - $250. It’s age, importance and the exquisite choromolithographs certainly contributed to this.  In recent years, the price has dropped substantially.  I would guess this must be another case of supply exceeding demand, coupled with the ease of locating books in the internet. I’ve seen copies on ebay go unsold for under $50.



Maps showing distribution of Illinois fishes, to accompany a report on the Fishes of Illinois - First Edition
by Stephen Alfred Forbes and Robert Earl Richardson.  1908
Danville, Ill.: Pub. by authority of the State Legislature, 1908, 103 maps. Cloth covered stiff boards.

Maps showing distribution of Illinois fishes, to accompany a report on the Fishes of Illinois - Second Edition

by Stephen Alfred Forbes and Robert Earl Richardson.  1919
Springfield, Ill: State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Division of the Natural History Survey, 1919. 103 maps. Cloth covered stiff boards.

This volume (in two identical editions) was issued to accompany The Fishes of Illinois by Forbes and Richardson (1908, 1920).  There are three general maps (drainage basins, geology, collection sites with spots in red), and the remainder are species by species spot maps.  These are the earliest detailed spot maps that come to mind for US fishes – it would be decades before another author presented something similar.

Technical notes:  The differences between the first and second editions of these map volumes pretty much mirrors those of the main volumes – different printer, slightly different color of cloth on the binding, different construction of the spine, edition appropriate notations on the title page and copyright page.  The 1908 edition does not have a front end sheet, the 1919 edition does.  The title given above for these volumes is the title printed on their title pages.  The spines are unmarked; on the front cover is printed in gold “ATLAS to Accompany a Report on the Fishes of Illinois - S.A. Forbes R.E. Richardson”.  Note the difference in titles.

On the general and interior distribution of Illinois fishes
by Stephen Alfred Forbes.  1909.
Urbana, Ill., Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 1909. Vol. VIII, Article III, p. 381-437, 103 maps. 27 cm.  Wrappers.

Dr. Forbes offers us here a detailed description of the distributional patterns of Illinois fishes.  There are tables of distributions and discussions by region and basin.  This is followed by some of the earliest spot maps I’ve seen for North American fishes.  These are that first appeared a year earlier in the Atlas to accompany the seminal Fishes of Illinois by Forbes and Richardson (see above).  In the Atlas the detailed distributional discussion is not included.











An Inventory of the Fishes of Jordan Creek, Vermilion County, Illinois
by R. Weldon Larimore, Quentin H. Pickering and Leonard Durham.  1952
Illinois Natural History Survey, Biological Notes  No. 29 (August), 26 pp., 25 figs. (maps).  Paper bound

    About 40 species were encountered some 70 years ago in this small creek.  Standard survey techniques were used to sample the ichthyofauna from various habitat types in this small creek.  It would be informative and
really interesting for somebody to resurvey the creek using the same methodology, comparing the conditions and changes (if any) in the fish community.  I found the creek on Google Earth, at included a satellite image of it (dated April 2019).  This image has the same approximate boundaries as the sketch map (Fig. 2) in the report.

What fish is this?

by Alvin C. Lopinot. 1960 (revised)

Illinois Deptartment of Conservation, Division of Fisheries. 29 pp., illus. with photographs and line drawings. Soft cover booklet

The crew-cutted boy holding a dead bass up by the jaws tells you this booklet is aimed at anglers. A series of sketchy line drawings (but no key) assist the angler in identifying larger species (centrarchids, ictalurids, etc.) found in the waters of Illinois. A chart at the end summarizes basic biology and common names.  My copy is dated "Revised 1960."  I don't know when the original version was published.




A Synoptic List of the Fishes Known to Occur within Fifty Miles of Chicago
by Seth Eugene Meek and Samuel F. Hildebrand.  1910
Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 142, Vol. VII (9);  223-338. illus. in black and white, wrappers.

At the time of this book’s publication, the natural areas and farm land surrounding a large city such as Chicago would have been getting heavy use by picnicers, hikers and anglers.  The aim of this piece was to offer the population of the City a guide to fishes that they might encounter on their outings.  Interesting to not, that even as early as 1910, the authors were bemoaning the degradation of habitats that was occurring in the region.  Identification keys are offered.  The species accounts are largely descriptive (the reader is directed to Forbes and Richarson’s Fishes of Illinois, 1908 for more details).  About 60 black and white illustrations of fishes are included; these are drawn from Fishes of Illinois (1908) and the U.S. Fish Commission library of images.
My copy of this work is extensively annotated in pencil, seemingly by an ichthyology.  The annotations include many updates to the nomenclature or taxonomy, also noting the extirpation of some species from the Chicago area or the appearance of some not here in listed.  A few citations are added, the most recent dated 1950.  Unfortunately, I don’t know who made these annotations.  At some point after they were made this copy was trimmed (with the partial loss of some annotations) and bound in red library cloth, with the loss of the original wrappers on which might have been the name of the original owner.








A preliminary annotated list of the lampreys and fishes of Illinois
by Philip W. Smith.  1965
Illinois Natural History Survey No. 54 (June), 12 pp., 3 figs. (maps).  Paper bound
    The check list is the foundation of further more in depth work on a fauna.  This author, Phil Smith (1921-1986), would later give us The Fishes of Illinois (1979).  This current list is based on extensive survey work by the author and his associates.  One hundred and seventy seven species are included.  Each is listed with a brief about its current status in the state.  It was a work in progress.










Illinois Streams: a classification based on their fishes and an analysis of factors responsible for disappearance of native species
by Philip W. Smith.  1971
Illinois Natural History Survey No. 76 (November), 14 pp., 26 figs. (maps).  Paper bound

    A historical and ecological study of fish habitats is offered here.  Figures 1 and 2 show collection sites in the state from 1876-1905 and 1950-1971 respectively.  I find analyses like this interesting.  I imagine how those habitats appeared to researchers before so much of the human inflicted damage on them had been wrought.  Streams are classified as to their biological integrity, and the many anthropogenic factors degrading them are discussed.  Distribution maps of a number of species are presented as examples of fishes losing ground.  This was published nearly 50 years ago; it must be far worse today.














A key to the fishes of Illinois

by Philip W. Smith. No date (1973)

Department of Conservation, Springfield, Illinois, Fishery Bulletin No. 6, 43 pp., illus.  Soft cover

About 200 native and non-native species are included in the illustrated key.  It’s a basic and workable key that makes fishery or ichthyological work possible in a region or state.  There’s no natural history and just a little distributional data included.  The check list of fishes known from the state is provided; it includes a handful of species that have been extirpated from Illinois and are not included in the key.  I can’t find any date on this piece, but several on-line references to it put publication at 1973.  Illustrated with simple line drawings of diagnostic traits.






The Fishes of Illinois
by Philip W. Smith.  1979
Urbana: Published for the Illinois State Natural History Survey by the University of Illinois Press, xxix + 314
pp, illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-252-00682-8

Here is an example of a state fish book produced by an ichthyology, Phil Smith (1921-1986) who had the privilege of working the same fauna for the span of a career.  The book follows the standard format.  Introductory chapters set the state in terms of history, hydrology and geography.  A guide to fish identification is presented.  Keys to families, genera and species are included.  By the time a book like this reaches fruition, these keys have generally been ‘student-tested’ for many years.  Thus, they are generally tight and accurate.  Each species account is illustrated with a black and white drawing (these are drawn from a variety of sources).  A spot map, large enough to be useful is given as well.  The maps have open circles for the pre-1908 collections (those mapped by Forbes and Richardson, 1908) and closed circles for the post-1908 collections.  The species accounts are detailed and include cited references.  A gallery of color plates by Alice Ann Prickett is included.








Indiana


Sport fishes of Indiana

Anonymous.  No Date.

Division of Fish and Wildlife, Indianapolis, IN. Managment Series No. 20, 27 pp., illus. in black and white. Softbound booklet

Here is an angler’s guide to identifying the game fishes of Indiana.  About 40 species are covered – the usually players in Midwestern streams, rivers and lakes: centrarchids, ictalurids, stocked salmonids, etc.  Sketches assist in locating the identifying traits, and the text is telegraphic giving the basics that would be of immediate interest to an angler.  Another item that likely would have been found (still found?) in the pamphlet rack of a bait shop or state park office.  The introduction references “the early 70s” which would date this piece to sometime later than that.

Lake Maxinkuckee:  A Physical and Biological Survey
by Barton Warren Evermann and Howard Walton Clark.  1920
Indiana, Department of Conservation, Publication No. 1,. 2 vols. (vol 1 660 pp., vol. 2, 512 pp.),  illus. in black and white and color, map.  Green cloth covered boards, issued without dust jacket (apparently)

Lake Maxinkuckee is a large natural lake in northern Indiana.  Funded by the U.S. Fish Commission, this lengthy report details various aspects of the biology and ecology of the system.  Volume 1 describes the lake with limnological and meteorological data.  The fishes and their biology in the lake are also covered in great detail based on extensive surveys.  The fish section is illustrated with black and white drawings (those seen in Jordan and Evermann and other period U.S. Government publications.  Also included are color plates from Forbes and Richardson’s Fishes of Illinois (1908, 1920).  The rest of the vertebrate fauna is also covered, but not illustrated.  Volume 2 covers invertebrates, plants and algae.  It is not illustrated.
This is another work that demonstrates what can be accomplished when skilled scientists are given the resources to pursue their research.  It was once one of those standard works that one would expect to see on the shelf of a North American ichthyologist.








Key to the Fishes of Indiana
by Shelby D. Gerking.  1955
Invest. Indiana Lakes and Streams Vol. IV (2) (Oct. 1955: 51-86, not illus.

I have a number of these small works.  Many of them originated as mimeographed sheets, prepared by zoology or ichthyology instructors.  These were to allow their students to identity and learn the local ichthyofauna.  Early on, zoology in the US fell into a state-by-state operation; probably because regional faunas were be inventoried by biologists at state schools or working for state agencies.  These checklists and keys were used by students and colleagues, errors were located, missing species added and keys augmented and improved.  Then they would be formally published. This guide provides an introduction to the fishes of Indiana (both biological and historical).  This is followed by an annotated checklist and they the identification key. Species are keyed down to subspecies – something more common 50 - 60 years ago than today.  The key is not illustrated.





The Lampreys and Fishes of Indiana
by Oliver Perry Hay.  1894
Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources. Nineteenth Annual Report, 296 pp., "The Lampreys and Fishes of Indiana”, pp. 146-296, not illus., Cloth covered boards.

The is the earliest attempt in my collection to characterize the ichthyofauna of Indiana.  It is unillustrated and there are no maps.  Each taxon (starting with “Cyclostomi” and “Pisces”) is introduce and described.  Identification keys are included throughout.  Each species is described, with details on range and natural history provided.   The text is well sourced to a literature cited and footnotes.  Along the way, in a number of spots the author bemoans the lack of knowledge regarding the biology or diet or reproductive biology of this species or that.  One hundred and twenty years later, many of these species have had their population genetics explored – but basic aspects of their biology remain incompletely known.  This (as in Hay’s day) hinders broader understanding into the ecology, conservation and evolution of these species and their communities.
O.P. Hay had a long and productive career.  Here is a link to a biography and photograph.







Fishes of Indiana:  A Field Guide (Indiana Natural Science)
by Thomas P. Simon; illustrations by Joseph R. Tomelleri.  2011
Indiana University Press, Paperback, 368 pp., illus in color, maps. Soft cover
ISBN 978-0-253-22308-1

This is a nice, compact guide to the ichthyofauna (native and non) o Indiana, with over 200 species covered.  The introductory chapters are detailed and include the basics of the region, fishes collecting and identifying.  This includes a guide to identifying early life history stage – something not often seen in these regional guides.  The species accounts are telegraphic and to-the-point.  This guide is not intended as a revision of the state’s fishes or a detailed overview (such as Trautman’s Fishes of Ohio), and given the number of taxa covered detail is sacrificed to maintain a compact package.  Each species is illustrated in color, many with the excellent paintings of Joe Tomelleri, others with color photographs.  A small shaded area range map is provided for each species, as is a literature cited for those wishing to delve deeper into the fauna.  Since other guides to Indiana fishes are somewhat dated, I would guess that this book was a welcome contribution to ichthyology students (and their instructors) and management and conservation workers. 

Iowa

Some Common Iowa Fishes
by W. W. Aitken.  1936
Agricultural Experiment Station, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Ames, Iowa (1936), Extension Circular 224, 32 pp., illus Paperback

Here’s another of the small fish guides issues by Educational institutions or Conservation agencies.  These are typically aimed at the farmer or angler or amateur naturalist.  A bit of an introduction to fish biology is followed 25 or so species accounts of native and non-native fishes – almost all larger more visible species (for example, no species of Notropis is covered, and only one darter is).  Basic biological and management information in conveyed.  A couple pages on management are included, as is a check list of Iowa fishes – 131 species are included.  The black and white illustrations are drawn from various sources; many coming from the Illinois Biological Survey (from Forbes and Richardson’s Fishes of Illinois).

A check list of the fishes of Iowa with keys for identification

by Reeve M. Bailey.  1951

Iowa State Conservation Commission, pages187-238, illus. (reprinted from Iowa Fish and Fishing by Harlan and Speaker), paper bound

Covering 25 families, 61 genera and 133 native species (plus 4 non-natives), this section reprinted from Iowa Fish And Fishing by J. R. Harlan and E. B. Speaker (1951), is the skillful and meticulous work of Reeve Bailey.  Introductory sections are followed by a check list and illustrated keys to families and then to species.  A handy little item to have in the lab, museum or field, rather than carrying around the full book.

Kansas



Handbook of fishes of Kansas
by Frank Baker Cross.  1967
Lawrence, Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas. Miscellaneous Publication No. 45,  357 pp., illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards (no dust jacket) and soft cover.

This is a classic volume and the model for many of the smaller format state fish books that followed.  One hundred and thirty-two species are covered.  The introduction covers the standard topics of hydrology of the region and fish identification.  An excellent illustrated key to families leads into the species accounts.  Species accounts (also with illustrated keys) are illustrated with black and white images (which look to be retouched photographs), and spot maps.  The basic details of distribution and biology are covered (with citations).  Fifteen or so species are illustrated 4 leaves of colored plates.

Many copies I’ve seen offered over the years (hard cover and soft cover) have shown signs of extensive use.

The hard cover version of this book is just the soft cover version, including the pictorial stiff wrappers, placed in green cloth covered boards.  I’ve never seen a dust jacket for this book, and assume it was not issued with one.

Fishes in Kansas
by Frank Baker Cross and Joseph T. Collins.  1975
Lawrence: University of Kansas, Publication Education Series No. 3.  viii + 189 pp., illus in black and white.  Soft cover.

This is an updated and somewhat abridged edition of Frank Cross’s Handbook of Fishes of Kansas.  It is less technical in nature and the authors suggested it be a companion to the original.  Omitted from this edition are the keys to species, the color plates and some of the rarer species.  The detailed spot maps of the original have been replaced by a map of Kansas with county outlines, and a spot in each county of occurrence.  This is certainly not a replacement for the 1967 edition.






Illustrated guide to fishes in Kansas
by Frank Baker Cross and Joseph T. Collins, illustrated by Jeanne Roberstson.  1976
Lawrence: University of Kansas, Public Education Series No. 4.  x + 14 pp., illus. (May 30, 1976).  Oblong, soft cover


The authors note that 123 species of fishes occur in Kansas; this guide keys 51 of them.  Those omitted are rare or of very limited distributions.  The identification guide comes in the form of a pictorial, road map key.  Key traits are noted along the way and each species is illustrated in black and white.  No Latin names appear in this work.  This is no substitute for Frank Cross’s Handbook of Fishes of Kansas (1967)











Fish populations, following a drought, in the Neosho and Marais des Cygnes Rivers of Kansas 
by James E. Deacon.  1961
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History 13(9):   361-427 pp. illus. in black
and white, map.  Wrappers.

A severe drought provided an opportunity to make observations on the response of the ichthyofauna.  The study is described and then an annotated species account follows detailing observations on each species.










Kentucky



A Field Manual of Kentucky Fishes
by William Marion Clay.  1962
Frankfort, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1962. vii + 147 pp. illus. in black and white, maps, color frontis piece.

States such as Kentucky and Tennessee have the highest ichthyodiversity in North America.  This small guide (see also review the larger, more exhaustive one from 1975) allows identification of most of the more common and larger of Kentucky’s fishes.  Many smaller and more difficult to distinguish members of the families Cyprinidae (shiners, minnows) and Percidae (darters) are not included.  The introduction includes a section on the hydrography of Kentucky and a primer on fish identification, with illustrated keys.  The species accounts are illustrated with drawings or photographs, and contain the standard basics of identification and biology (no distribution maps are included).  The frontis piece is a color illustration of a rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (which is not native to Kentucky).  The volume closes with a Selected Bibliography.  There’s two color drainage map of Kentucky on the back cover.
My copy is from the library of Louis Krumholz, ichthyologist from University of Louisville; the cover bears his rubber stamped signature.




The fishes of Kentucky
by William Marion Clay. 1975.
Frankfort, Ky.: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1975. vii + 416 pp. : illus.; 23 cm.  Blue cloth covered boards; no dust jacket issued.

Library of Congress No. 75-5009

This guide was published and distributed by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. At least into the mid-1980s, it was available from them for the princely price of $2.00.  I remember sending them two worn one dollar bills and a week later, there was my copy.  Although not an expensively produced volume, clearly the cost was underwritten. In any case, state-by-state guides or revisions are fun to acquire.  The fairly basic production of this volume may deter some, but it seems to me that the content is pretty solid. There is the typical introduction to the region and to fish identifications...and then the species accounts. There are keys to families and to genera and species.  The species are illustrated with black and white photographs, and the typical details of identification, distribution and biology are given . Not a faunal revision – a guide.  I imagine the ichthyology and fisheries classes at universities all over Kentucky were pleased to have this guide.   There are no distribution maps.
Reading the preface or acknowledgment of a volume like this gives one a feel for the character of the author and the amount of work taken to bring it all together.  You also see, book after book, some of the same people thanked....for western fishes, you generally find the names of Carl Hubbs and Robert Rush Miller; for books covering the eastern fauna, Reeve Baily nearly always assisted somewhere along the way . An publishing house editor once told me that there was a push to move acknowledgments to the back of books. because readers were annoyed by too much front matter.  I disagree – the acknowledgments are one of the first sections of a book I read.



Fishes of the Red River drainage, Eastern Kentucky
by Branley A. Branson and Donald L. Batch.  1974
University Press of Kentucky. 1974. 67 pp. illus., folding map. Soft cover.
ISBN 0813112958

Here we have essentially a long term survey report for the Red River of Eastern Kentucky.  A description of the site is followed by an annotated species list.  Collection sites for each species are noted (an plotted on a map in the introduction).  A discussion of biogeography closes out the report. Only two species are illustrated, both are darters, undescribed at the time:  Percina stictogaster and Etheostoma baileyi.  This is the type of work that an ichthyologist with a long time appointment can do over several years or a couple decades.  It would be nice to see more of this type of research done – and to see it published.  My copy has “Kuehne” written on the cover – suggesting this was Robert Kuehne’s copy.




Louisiana




Checklist of the freshwater fishes of Louisiana

by Neil H. Douglas and James T. Davis.  1967
Baton Rouge: Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission, Wildlife Education Bulletin No. 99, 29 pp. : illus. in black and white. Soft cover

This checklist is the first fruit of a project begun in 1963 to document the fish fauna of the state of Louisiana.  The report is a family by family listing of 141 species, with black and white photographs of representative species (preserved specimens) included. There are no keys or information on identification.  This is the forerunner of Douglas’s Freshwater Fishes of Louisiana (1974).  I found on-line reference to a 1985 revised edition of this checklist, but I haven’t see this version.




Freshwater fishes of Louisiana
by Neil H. Douglas.  1974

Baton Rouge, La.: Claitor's Pub. Division. xiii + 443 pp. : illus. (some col.). Red cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

This volume covers the 148 native and non-native fishes known from Louisiana at the time of its writing.  A brief introduction leads into the species accounts.  Each account spreads across two opposite pages), which allows the reader to see the entire account at once.  Each account comes with a spot map, and a black and white drawing (of nice quality – by 3 different artists).  The species accounts are brief consisting of a section on Distribution and one on Description. Missing is much detail on ecology or biology.  The book closes with color plates of the fishes - photographs of (for the most part) freshly preserved specimens.  This is a compact and, I imagine, useful book when one is trying to identify Louisiana fishes.

Sea Fishes and Sea Fishing in Louisiana including recipes for the preparation of seafoods
by James Nelson Gowanloch and J.B. Dauenhauer, Jr..  1932
New Orleans: Dept. of Conservation, Bulletin No. 21, 187 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover.

    This is a companion volume to Fishes and Fishing in Louisiana including recipes for the preparation of seafoods, also by Gowanloch.  Opening the volume are sections on fishing and fish biology.  Species accounts are organized by type of fish, sometimes one species, other times a group of similar creatures.  The organization escapes me, it’s certainly not taxonomic.  Black and white illustrations are the standard ones seen in U.S. government publications.  Many pages of food preparation and recipes close out the volume.  For some reason on page 122 there’s an illustration of an acorn worm (Hemichordata) and a paragraph on this group.















Fishes and Fishing in Louisiana including recipes for the preparation of seafoods
by James Nelson Gowanloch.  1933
New Orleans: Dept. of Conservation, Bulletin No. 24, 638 pp., illus., color plates, folded map

Reprinted 1965 with addenda and corrections etc. by Claude “Grits” Gresham:  Claitor’s Book Store, Baton Rouge.  701 pp., illus. Hard cover.
Library of Congress No. 65-26717

Well, this volume is somewhat of a mixed bag.  Some ichthyology (freshwater and marine), some fisheries, some angling, some cooking.  The species accounts are seemingly randomly arranged (separated into marine and freshwater), at least with regard to any normal taxonomic thinking.  The accounts are rich in anecdotes regarding fishing and cooking and folklore, as well as drawing heavily from the fishery management literature.  There is a folded map of the state glued on the back cover, otherwise there are no distribution maps, but there are some identification keys.  Ten color plates are included of game fishes, these come from the Illinois Natural History Survey and are the often used plates first seen in Forbes and Richardson (1908, 1920).  All-in-all, an interesting, if not somewhat chaotic assemblage of fish lore.
The 1965 edition is largely a facsimile edition.  Differences include addenda at the end involving new records to Louisiana waters and angling updates.  The folded map is not included; the color plates of the original are present, but grouped at the front of the volume and not printed in color.  My copy of this edition is hard bound in faux leather boards; it lacks a dust jacket (I don’t know if it was issued with one).








Maine

Fishes of Maine
by W. Harry Everhart.  1950
Augusta, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Game, 53 pp. illus. in black and white, with 9 color pls. 

Cloth covered boards.

Fishes of Maine, 2nd Edition
by W. Harry Everhart.  1958
Augusta, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Game, 94 pp. illus. in color and black and white, with 10 color pls.,  Soft cover

Fishes of Maine, 4th Edition
by W. Harry Everhart.  1976
Augusta, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Game, 96 pp. illus. in color and black and white, with 10 color pls.,  Soft cover

Here is a basic guide to the native and non-native freshwater fishes of Maine.  The front matter is brief.  An identification key is provided.  The species accounts,  illustrated with color photographs, have the basic details of biology and identification, with some information directed at the angler.  Some of the species accounts are individually authored by people other than Everhart.  There are no maps and no references.  The color plates are photographs.  My copy of the first edition is hard bound and does not have a dust jacket.  I don’t know if there was a soft bound printing of the first edition, or if it came with a dust jacket.

Starting with the second edition (1958), this work is presented in somewhat smaller format, with the text updated and augmented.  The second edition also adds an additional color plate, the large mouth bass (Micropterus salmoides).  I have a second (1958) and a  forth (1976) edition to compare  They appear largely the same (with some updated information here and there, with 96 pages instead of 94), although Everhart’s Forward has been replaced by one by the Chief of Fishery Research and Management, Lyndon H. Bond (oddly enough, the two are pretty much the same).  The 1958 edition is glued; the 1976 stapled.
I don’t know if any of the subsequent editions were issued in hard cover; mine are paperback.  There is a 3rd edition (1966); I don’t have a copy of it.


.






An Annotated Catalogue of the Fishes of Maine
by William Converse Kendall.  1914
Proceedings of the Portland Society of Natural History, Vol. III (1), 198 pp., not illus., wrappers

One hundred and fifty species are here in recorded from the fresh and marine water of Maine.  They are listed with their range, and bibliographic entries noting presence in Maine.  Also included are a gazetteer of localities and an annotated bibliography of Maine ichthyology.  A lot of detailed work went in to gathering all the data recorded in this report – and it was all done without the internet and without computers.








Maryland

The common fishes of Maryland

by Harold J. Elser.  1950

State of Maryland, Board of Natural Resources, Department of Research and Education, Publication No. 88 (June), 45 pp., illus in black and white. Soft Cover

This is another angler’s guide.  Included are freshwater fishes large enough to be taken by hook (and common enough to be encountered), as well as selected marine fishes found Chesapeake Bay.  Basic sketch drawings are labeled with diagnostic traits, and the text includes the basics of the biology of each species that would be of interest to an angler (diet, food value, habitat and such).  Maryland is another state without a comprehensive “Fishes of..." book.











The fishes of Maryland
by Reginald V. Truitt, Barton A. Bean and Henry W. Fowler.  1929

State of Maryland Conservation Dept., 120 pp., 3 leaves of color plates.  Wrappers

This is basically an annotated checklist of fishes collected in the f resh and marine waters of Maryland.  The introduction is a guide to basic fish biology.  The species are listed in taxonomic order.  Diagnostic details are given for each, and distributions are noted.  There are no keys or maps.  Sixty two text figures illustrate various species; these are the standard illustrations seen in many government publications of the era.  Three color plates are included.











The fresh-water minnows of Maryland
by Frank Schwartz.  1963
Educational Series No. 60, Maryland Conservationist 40(2): 19-29, illus. in black and white. 

    Twenty-three native and four introduced cyprinid fishes are covered in this short paper.  An introduction to the family is followed by species accounts that include diagnostic information and basic range and habitat details.  Each species is illustrated with a simple drawing, and some diagnostic features are also illustrated.  A dichotomous key is provided.  My copy is inscribed to a colleague by the author and contains a couple hand written corrections.  Maryland is a state without a stand-alone state fish guide, although a regional one does exist (Rhode, et al.1994, Freshwater fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware).
Separate.   












Massachusetts



A list of the freshwater fishes of Massachusetts - 3rd edition
by David B. Halliwell.  1984
Boston: Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Fauna of Massachusetts Series No. 4,12 pp.  Soft cover

This is a pretty basic listing of native and non-native freshwater fishes of Massachusetts, with a literature cited.  Separate lists are given as to introduced, or rarity of various species.  The cover art is by Barb Terkanian.









Natural history of the fishes of Massachusetts: embracing a practical essay on angling
by Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith.  1833
Boston: Allen and Ticknor, vii + 399 pp.,  illus..
1970 reprint, New York: Freshet Press.  Cloth covered boards in slipcase, no dust jacket issu
ed

Published in 1833, them is one of the earliest ichthyology books published in the United States.  In the introduction, the author apologies for errors an inconsistencies in the volume, noting that he lives on an island in Boston Harbor and had limited access and communication with the publisher.  He also expresses the desire to produce a broader, more detailed and authoritative book on the fishes of the region (which was never published, I don’t know if he ever worked on it).  The book opens with a discussion of the importance of fisheries, and then a section on fish anatomy and biology.  The species accounts cover the distribution of the species and other miscellaneous information known to the author - biology, angling potential, fishery import and such.  Many are illustrated with small engraved drawings of uneven quality, but all with a nice period feel.  The work ends with a lengthy chapter on the biology and angling of trout.  My copy has been rebound in modern library cloth, with the original spine label laid in.  Based on a dealer photograph on line, the original bindings appear to be paper or cloth covered boards, with a red or orange spine label.

The 1970 edition is a facsimile reprint of the original.  The only textural differences I see are minor alterations to the title page and copyright page to reflect the reprinted status.  The reprint came in a slip case.  The publisher of the reprint over-estimated the interest in this work – nearly 45 years after it was issued, brand new (or at least un-issued) and copies are easily and inexpensively obtained.

Michigan



An atlas of Michigan fishes: with keys and illustrations for their identification
by Reeve M. Bailey, William C. Latta and Gerald Ray Smith.  2004
Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Miscellaneous Publications No. 192, 215 pp., illus. in black and white, maps. Soft bound

The title pretty much covers this one.  This work is not a revision or a detailed guide to the fauna – it’s a volume of distribution maps with identification keys (for native and non-native fishes).  An introduction places the fauna and our knowledge of it into perspective.  A check-list of native and introduced species is given.  Spot maps showing the state of Michigan with ALL locations where fishes were collected...I like this feature.  Detailed identification keys follow - these were crafted by Reeve Bailey, who had a particular skill in key writing.  Each species is given a full page, with a black and white drawing; there were prepared for this work and are excellent (most by Karen Klitz), and a large spot map showing the range.  A short sheet of errata is bound against the back cover.






Minnows of Michigan
by Carl Leavitt Hubbs and Gerald P. Cooper.  1936 (slightly revised 1938)
Cranebrook Institute of Science, Bulletin No. 8. 1936 [revised 1938] 84 pp. 2 illus., 10 black and white pls.  Softbound.

This is an compact guide to identification and biology of cyprinid fishes of Michigan waters.  38 native and non-native species are keyed and covered (there are no maps).  Standard details are included in species accounts, and a black and white photograph is provided of each.  There is a key to spawning strategies – a feature I’ve never seen before.  This is one of several works by Hubbs and coauthors that lead eventually to Hubbs and Lagler (1947).  My copy is the “slightly revised” 1938 printing.  I don’t have a copy of the 1936 original printing for comparisons.
My copy bears the previous owner’s name of G.E. Grube (George Edward) (1923-2000), a widely published ornithologist, spending much of his long career at Dana College in Nebraska.







Fishes of Michigan
by John Van Oosten
Detroit News - published as a series of articles from 4 Aug 1940 - 6 July 1941, ca. unumbered 100 pages, illustrated.

This is an unusual piece.  I have the only copy I have ever seen, and I’ve never seen it offered in any catalog.  I can’t find any reference to it on line.  I found my copy in an antique mall in Lebanon, Ohio.  From Aug. 1940 to July 1941 a series of articles appeared, each devoted to different species of Michigan fish – 49 in all.  These articles are all compiled in this volume.  This small book has cloth bound boards with the title, and icon of an angler and Detroit News imprinted on the cover.  The heavy stock pages are blank with each fish account pasted in – on the left hand page is an illustration of the species and title (species name), on the facing page is the species account.  I would have thought that this might be a hand-made unique piece, were it not for the fact that it comes with imprinted boards and there are exactly the correct number of pages for the series.  The species accounts include the basic details on identification, range and biology.
John Van Oosten was a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ann Arbor, Michigan.



Minnesota





A preliminary report on the fishes of Minnesota 
by Ulysses Orange Cox.  1897
Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, Zoological Series III.  viii + 97, 1 black and white plate. Stiff boards

Ulysses Orange Cox (1864–1920) gives us an accounting of the fishes of Minnesota as it was known at the turn of the 20th Century.  Works likes this form the groundwork for later more exhaustive and detailed research (as the author states in his introduction).  In the introduction we are given an introduction to the region and history and resources for study of Minnesota fishes.  A single plate illustrated diagnostic features of fishes.  The species accounts include identification keys, diagnostic details of each species, and description of range of species within the state.  A solid starting point for work this fauna, and like most ichthyology in North American during this period, it draws heavily on the work of Jordan and Evermann.









Northern Fishes with Special Reference to the Upper Mississippi Valley.  2nd Edition (2nd printing)
by Samuel Eddy and Thaddeus Surber.  1947 (1960)
Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. xii + 276 pp. illus. in black and white and color.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.

This book is directed more at the angler than many start or regional guides.  It’s geographic coverage is centered on Minnesota; coverage for this state is complete, but the book is intended to function beyond the borders of Minnesota for about 200 miles in any direction..  The front matter contains discussion of management and habitat “improvement” as well as the standard guide to fish identification.  There are keys to families and species.  The species accounts provide details on range, identification and facts of interest to anglers.  Sport fishes have longer accounts.  Fishes are illustrated with black and white photographs with a few color plates of paintings of fishes.  There are no maps, but there is an lengthy bibliography.
There appear to be three editions of this book.  The first from 1943 (I don’t have a copy of this edition to review), a revised edition with printings in 1947 and 1960, and a third edition in 1974 (I don’t have a copy of this edition either).  The 1947 and 1960 printings of the revised edition appear identical except appropriate alterations to the title page and copyright page, and the 1960 edition is printed on heavier, higher quality paper, making for a noticeably thicker book.  The dust jackets of the two are identical.






The fishes of the Lake of the Woods and connecting waters
by Barton Warren Evermann and Homer Barker Latimer.  1910
Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum 39: 121-136, not illus.


Lake of the Woods is a large freshwater body of water that straddles the USA - Canada border (Minnesota, Manitoba, Ontario).  It had a large commercial fishery and thus was of economic and international interest.  This report details the ichthyofauna based on a series of collections and explorations.  An annotated list of 40 species is given, with some catch data provided for commercial species.  In a report like this, the names of all sorts of biologists of the era may pop up.  In this we bump into Seth E. Meek, Ulysses O. Cox and Albert J. Woolman, I believe all protegees of David Starr Jordan.






Fishes of the Minnesota Region
by Gary L. Phillips, William D. Schmid and James C. Underhill.  1982.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,  x + 248 pp., illus. in color and black and white.
ISBN 0-8166-0979-9 (cloth covered boards in dust jacket)
ISBN 0-8166-0982-9 (soft cover)

This volume covers 148 native and non-native fishes.  The book is targeted at the general reader and angler living or exploring the upper Midwest.  The introduction contains the basics of the region, often with more angling content than in found in many state books.  There’s a key to families, but no key to species.  The species accounts are illustrated with color photographs of living specimens in aquaria or photograph tanks.  The accounts themselves sketch out the basics of the distribution, biology and human interactions of each species.  There are no distribution maps, but there is a reading list.
Issued in cloth covered boards with dust jacket (darker cover to right), and soft cover (to left) (this soft cover copy is from the 1991 2nd printing).










Minnesota fish facts:  Answers to questions commonly asked concerning Minnesota's fishes
by Lloyd Lyman Smith.  1944

Minnesota Department of Conservation, Conservation Bulletin No. 7, 28 pp., paperbound, illus.

Bearing the subtitle, “Answers to questions commonly asked concerning Minnesota’s fishes,” is by no means a guide.  Rather it attempts to explain basic fishery science to the angler.  Lots of pictures of managers, hatchery and lab workers going about their various jobs.  This includes a photograph of “rough fish removal” under the section “Modern Fish Management.”  Of course, “rough fish” are those, usually native, species that are not sought as game or commercial fishes. At least they didn’t call them “trash fish.”  An interesting period piece - fishery management in a simpler time with habitats under less human pressure and issue of endangered species and no as acute as today.






Mississippi


Freshwater fishes in Mississippi
by Fannye A. Cook.  1959.
Mississippi Game and Fish Commission. 239 pp. : illus., maps.  Soft cover.

For decades, this was the only complete identification guide to Mississippi fishes, authored by Fannye Cook (1889-1964), the museum curator of the State Game and Fish Commission and published by the commission.  Front matter includes typical material about the hydrology of the region and topology of fishes. The body of the book contains keys to identification and species accounts.   The keys identify some species to the subspecies level, and such are discussed separately in the species accounts.  Most books from more recent decades don’t give much text to subspecies.  There are no distribution maps and most of the illustrations show identification characters, and are not portraits of species.  Nearly all copies of this book I’ve seen are spiral bound – green stiff boards for the cover, with a black plastic spiral spine. I assume these come from a later printing. They don’t look aged enough to be from 1959, although I can find nothing in them that identifies when they were printed (if not 1959).

I have finally acquired an original 1959 copy of this book.  It is bound in wrappers with a glued spine.  The (presumed) later reproduction (the spiral bound one) is an exact copy.
 
I’ve added a picture of a young Fannye Cook.  She led a busy life – here’s a link to a biography:  Fannye Cook.

The Inland Fishes of Mississippi
by Stephen T. Ross.  2001
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.  xx + 624 pp., illus. in color and black and white, maps. Glossy pictorial board, no dust jacket issued.
ISBN 1-57806-246-2

Some state fish book are guides or illustrated keys.  This state ichthyofaunal book is one of those that represent a more exhaustive survey and revision of the state’s fauna.  Extensive front matter sets the stage with details chapters on the history, hydrography, conservastion, etc.  Identification keys are provided.  The species accounts are detailed and cite sources.  Each has a spot map and a illustration of the fish (usually in color of a freshly preserved specimen).  This is an excellent book, in terms of content and presentation.
I have one issue - this book was issued without a dust jacket, which means the shiny black boards collect finger prints in and dings.






Missouri

Introduction to Missouri Fishes

by Harold Kerns and co.  2005

Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City. 39 pp., illus. 8.5" x 11", soft cover booklet

Based heavily on the work of Missouri ichthyologist Bill Pfieger, this pamphlet details a number of the common for more visible members of the Missouri ichthyofauna.  Each of the 75 or so species covered comes with a basic species account providing salient details, a spot map of the Missouri distribution, and a color painting by Joe Tomelleri.

A nicely done booklet, the type of which one would see distributed at Wildlife displays at county or state Fairs.  Just so everybody is clear, the funding source for the production is given (i.e., not state tax dollars).









A Check-list of the Fishes of Missouri with Keys for Identification
by William L. Pflieger.  1968
Missouri Department of Conservation, Division of Fisheries, D-J Series No. 3, Sept. 1968, 64 pp., not illustrated, soft bound

The first step to understanding an ichthyofauna is catalog or check-list.  Next is the identification key.  Here we have the first modern offering of both by the scientist whose name would become intimately associated with Missouri fishes.  Keys such as this are often crafted and then reproduced informally for use by students or field workers.  This serves to identify errors or weaknesses in the keys.  These keys were crafted for inclusion in the then in production Fishes of Missouri (1975) and offered in this preliminary form.  One hundred and ninety-four species are included, of which four are non-native.  Unlike the version of these keys eventually published in the above mentioned book, these keys are un-illustrated.  Surely, when they came out, a great help to students and conservation workers in Missouri and adjacent states.











A distributional study of Missouri fishes
by William L. Pflieger.  1971
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History 20(3):  227-570, 15 figs., 193 maps.


Here is a biogeographic study of Missouri fishes.  A detailed introduction discusses the hydrology and paleohydrology of basins in Missoui.  Species accounts cover nearly 200 native and non-native fishes.  A short synonymy for each sets the taxonomic stage, with observations on distribution and habitat and zoogeography following.  A spot map for each species shows distribution of verified records.  The volume closes with an extensive literature cited.  Although the coverage of this study is confined to the state of Missouri, most of the species have wider ranges and the information thus has applicability to neighboring states.
















An Introduction to Missouri fishes
by William L. Pflieger and Lawrence C. Belusz.  1982
Missouri Dept. of Conservation, 16 pp, illus. in color, map.  Booklet.

This pamphlet offers an introduction to about 40 of the native fishes of Missouri.  Each is illustrated with a color photograph, along side a paragraph of the most basic details for the species in question.  Cheaply printed, I image, for free distribution.









Montana


Fishes of Montana
by Claudeous Jethro Daniels Brown.  1971.
Bozeman, Montana State University. 207 pp. illus., maps. 23 cm.  Soft cover

A basic field / lab guide to the native and non-native fishes of Montana is found in this volume.  It was an early addition to my collection of fishes books – at a time when one goal I had was to get a ichthyofaunal guide to every state or at least region.  The front matter is limited, there is a key to families and then keys to species within each family.  The species accounts are typical – basic details provided, often is the angler in mind.  Spot maps are provided as are illustrations of each species. The illustrations my look familiar - may were drawn from Frank Cross’s Handbook of Fishes of Kansas (1967).   Books like this mostly synthesize the experience of the author and the available literature.  A sturdier binding would be nice — books like this often get hard use in lab or field.

Key to the Fishes of Montana
by William R. Gould. 1980
Big Sky Books, Montana State University. (1982 Revised Ed.), 19 pages, soft bound

A key to the fishes of Montana is what this small work provides.  A great tool in the lab or field and much handier than a book (which may be clumsy or subject to damage).  84 species are keyed, simple drawings are provided to illustrated key species or points of identification.

A List of the Fishes of Montana with Notes on the Game Fishes

by James Alexander Henshall.  1906
Bulletin University of Montana No. 34, Biological Series No. 11: 1-10, not illustrated.

James Henshall (1836-1925) is well known as an angling author, especially with regard to the black basses (Micropterus). Here, we have a small contribution to the ichthyology of Montana. Thirty six species are listed, some the author notes were collected by Lewis and Clark, other during the Railroad Survey expeditions of the 1850s. True to his interests, the rather bare-bones list of species is followed by more detailed comments on some of the native and non-native game fishes (all salmonids) found in Montana’s water. Works like this often give insight into stocking and transplantation patterns of early fishery managers.

A Field Guide to Montana Fishes, 2nd edition
by George D. Holton and Howard E. Johnson.  1996
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Helena, 104 pp., illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Soft
cover
ISBN 1-56044-479-7

A Field Guide to Montana Fishes, 3rd edition
by George D. Holton and Howard E. Johnson. Color paintings by Joe Tomelleri.  2003
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Helena. 2003. 95 pp., illus. Soft cover, spiral bound
ISBN 1-56044-497-7

This is a nicely presented book on the fishes of Montana. The authors note that C.J.D. Brown’s Fishes of Montana (1971) offered the starting point for their volume.  It is really not a detailed revision of the fauna as seen in some state guides (i.e., Fishes of Wisconsin), but is a field (and lab) guide, as stated in the title.

Front matter is brief, containing a guide to fish identification; this is followed by species accounts for
each of the native and non-native fishes found in Montana. Each species account contains an outline of standard information on identification, distribution and biology. Each species is illustrated with a black and white photograph, with its range in Montana indicated on a shaded area map. Identification keys are not provided for most families, although diagnostic information for some is presented in graphic or tabular form. A gallery of Joe Tomelleri’s excellent color illustration (in the 3rd edition) is provided for a number of species (mostly the game fishes).

The small format and spiral binding (3rd edition) make this book usable in the field.

The very last page of the book is plea to the public to STOP introducing fishes beyond their native ranges. Anybody working in a western state and concerned about native fish conservation can certainly appreciate this.

Nebraska



The Fishes of Nebraska
by Jerry Morris, Larry Morris and Larry Witt.  1972
Lincoln, Nebraska, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 98 p., illus. in color and monochrome, maps.  Soft cover.
Unstated 2nd (?) edition 1974.

Nebraska is one of the relatively few U.S, states that does not have a Fishes of... book.  This work, while nicely done, is more of a guide for anglers and amateur naturalists than a complete coverage/guide.  Introductory sections describe the region and give the basics of fish biology.  The text covers the diversity of Nebraska fishes largely at the family/genus level, with general information on biology and diversity.  There are no keys or species level identification aids.  About 100 species are illustrated by color photographs, some of aquarium held individuals, others appear to be of freshly preserved specimens.  A series of shaded area range maps are provided for some species.
comprehensive and detailed
I have two versions of this book (1972 and 1974), the later edition has few more pages in the introduction, but the main contents appear to be the same. 







Nevada

A Key to Nevada Fishes
by Ira La Rivers.  1952

Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences, 51(3): 86 - 102, 1 fig.

The first step to understanding a fauna is having a checklist.  And that is just where many state or regional guides have their foundation. The next step is the identification key.  Here Ira La Rivers gives us just that.  Illustrated with one figure of fish anatomy, this key is fairly typical and would allow a student or researcher to identify with some degree of confidence any fish encountered within the waters of Nevada.  La Rivers will follow this key with his Fish and Fisheries of Nevada (1962).

Fishes and fisheries of Nevada
by Ira La Rivers.  1962
Carson City, Nev.: Nevada State Fish and Game Commission, 782 p. : illus. in black and white, with color plates, maps, 1 fold-out map.  Hard cover, no dust jacket issued


This is a highly detailed, very inclusive state fish book.  The introductory section cover history, hydrology, paleoichthyology, with the section on fishes not commencing until around page 200.  Identification keys are present.  Each species account includes a synonymy, the text of the original description and a detailed differential diagnosis, features typical of revisionary works, but not often state fish books.  Other sections are range, taxonomy, life history and economics (all with literature citations).  Fishes are illustrated with drawings or photographs, range maps are included for some.  A series of appendices (by various authors) cover topics such as water quality, food, and development.
The color plates are Maynard Reece’s paintings of mostly game fishes (also seen in Iowa Fish and Fishing by Harlan and Speaker), few if any native to Nevada.  They probably added to the marketability of the volume, but not much to it’s content.
The first edition was limited to 1000 copies, to be numbered and signed by the author.  I’ve encountered several un-numbered and unsigned copies over the years, and highest numbered copy I’ve seen is in the 400s.  Perhaps after initial distribution, the numbering and signing of copies stopped.



Fishes and fisheries of Nevada
by Ira La Rivers.  1994
Reno: University of Nevada Press,782 pp.,  illus. in black and white.  Hard cover, no dust jacket issued.
ISBN 0-87417-256-X

The 1994 edition has a new forward by Gary Vinyard and James E. Deacon and an update on nomenclature and status by Craig Stockwell.  It is otherwise a facsimile reprinting minus the fold-out map included with the original edition, and the color plates.
















New Hampshire


A Sportman's Guide to the Fresh-water Fishes of New Hampshire
by Ralph G. Carpenter. 1947.

Concord: The New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission, 87 pp., illus. Softcover

This is a nice little period piece. Not a revision of the State’s fish fauna, but a handy identification guide. The book starts with a key to families, and within each family account (taxonomically arranged), there are simple sketches of the species with identifying features noted on the drawings or in tabular form. Not a lot of other information is imparted – not much front matter, not much in the species accounts beyond identification, color and range. This little soft cover guide was 30 cents when first printed in 1947.







Fishes of Connecticut lakes and neighboring waters with notes on plankton environment
by W.C. Kendall and E. L. Goldsborough.  1908
Bureau of Fishes Document No. 633, 1908, 77 pages, 5 text figs., 12 black and white plates, fold out map, soft cover

Not being a New Englander and unfamiliar with the geography I was (a little) surprised when I read in the introduction that the Connecticut lakes are in New Hampshire.  They are the source of the Connecticut River.  This report covers a broad survey of the biology and ecology of the ichthyodiversity of the lakes.  Twenty four native and introduced species are covered (and keyed).  The coverage leans heavily towards salmonids (native and non), where, of course, all the angling interest was.  The lakes are described in detail, although most of the report is devoted to the species accounts.  They are detailed, including descriptive information, general biology and human interactions.  Fishes (salmonids) are illustrated with black and white plates and text figures; these are mostly drawn from the U.S. Fish Commission collection (which very commonly were used to illustrate works in this period).  A few plates offer photographs of the lakes themselves, which are apparently (very cleverly) named, First Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake and Round Lake.  I find works like this to be nice period pieces and give insight in to the care and sophistication of researchers a century ago.













Freshwater fishes of New Hampshire
by John F. Scarola, photographs by Jon Craig Coutier.  1973, 1987.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Dept., Division of Inland Marine Fisheries, 1973. 131 pp. illus. in black and white and color, map.  Soft cover.

A small north eastern state will not have a particularly large ichthyofauna.  But a guide or revision is still a useful thing.  Fishery and conservation jurisdictions usually follow state lines, so students and workers need a entry point to the fauna.  The front matter is very short.  Illustrated identification keys are provided.  Species accounts follow a pretty standard pattern with details on identification, distribution, biology and angling interest.  The species are illustrated with color photographs.
A second printing was made in 1987.  The type has been reset and the margins are a bit different, a paragraph of acknowledgments present in the 1973 printing is missing,  but I can’t find much else that is different.








New Jersey



The Fishes of New Jersey
by Henry Weed Fowler.  1906
Report of the New Jersey State Museum for 1905, Trenton, N. J.:  35-477, text figs., 104 leaves of plates.  Cloth covered boards

A Supplementary Account of the Fishes of New Jersey
by Henry Weed Fowler.  1907
Report of the New Jersey State Museum for 1906, Trenton, N. J.:  253-350, text figs., 52 plates.

Fowler, in this report, gives us an encyclopedic catalog of the freshwater and coastal fishes of New Jersey.  He starts with a general introduction and a review of the literature of fishes of the region.  Identification keys are provided.  Henry Fowler was very detail oriented with regard to literature, synonymies and specimens.  His work usually is typically flush with this type of information.  Species accounts include details of natural history and fishery interest, as well as descriptive details.  There are a number of text figures, a frontispiece plate of Hybognathus nucalus and 104 leaves of plates at the end; the latter are the plates from the U.S. Fish Commission often seen illustrating works of this period.
This copy bears a large rubber stamp on the front end sheet that reads “From the New Jersey State Museum Compliments of S. R. Morse, Curator.”  On the front paste down is the bookplate of C. William Beebe, but sadly not his signature.  There’s a second book plate on the rear paste down, of interest because it portrays Archeopteryx.
A supplement to the main report was issued in the ensuing year.  It details species discovered in the state since the first report or overlooked in the first report.







New Mexico

Guide to the fishes of New Mexico
by William Jacob Koster.  1957.
Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press. 1957.  116 p. illus. Paperbound

Every state needs a fish guide.  Some come in the form of illustrated keys others are lengthy revisions of the fauna based on decades of work.  This volume is more in the guide variety than revision variety.  The author states his goal was to provide an simple and easy way for people to identify the local fauna.  The front matter is fairly basic, and it seems with an eye towards the angler as reader.  There is a key to families and then within each family a key to species (native and non).  The species accounts are illustrated with line outline drawings (no maps), and are rather brief – diagnostic features are noted, range is indicated, and general comments, mostly, seemingly, directed towards angling.  What’s missing is discussion of habitats and conservation status, the later, of course, could have been much further from thought in the late 1950s than in the early 21 century.  This book is not particularly scarce, but was once sought as the only complete guide to New Mexico’s fishes.





The fishes of New Mexico
by James E. Sublette, Michael D. Hatch and Mary Sublette.  Color plates by Joseph Tomelleri.  1990
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.  xiii + 393 pp., illus in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-8263-1179-2

The Fishes of New Mexico is an elegantly presented volume.  Front matter is basic, including an introduction to the hydrology of New Mexico and Joe Tomelleri’s excellent color paintings.  There is a key to families, with each family having its own key to species.  The species accounts are lengthily, illustrated with large spot maps (with date coded symbols) and pictures of the individual species.  Some species are illustrated with black and white paintings, most are also illustrated with scanning electron micrographs of the animal or various parts of it (e.g., pharyngeal jaws or lateral line pore patterns).  The abundance of SEMs is a curious choice, one that has not been imitated in other books.  When the book was first issued this feature seemed to draw much attention (and bewilderment), distracting from other aspects of the volume.  It ends with a lengthy bibliography.  It was issued with a separate folding map of New Mexico hydrography and angling waters).

Scarcity note - from what I’ve been told by publishers, the print run for books such as this is generally small (in the range of 1000 - 3000 copies).  The particular book must have been on the low end.  It disappeared from new book listings within a few years of being published.  UNM Press dropped their remaining copies on the remainder market (remainder copies have a square, red ink stamp on the bottom of the text block near the spine).  The book quickly became and remains scarce and much sought.





New York



The ecology and economics of Oneida Lake fish
by Charles C. Adams and T. L. Hankinson.  1928
Bulletin of the New York Stage College of Forestry, Roosevlt Wild Life Annals Vol 1 (3-4): 235-548 p. illus., 4 color plate, folding map. Paperbound

Oneida Lake is a large glacial lake near Syracuse, NY.  This bulletin results years of dedicated study by the authors and their assistants.  They detail the structure of the lake, it’s food chains, habitats and fisheries and human impacts.  About 60 species are listed from the lake.  They are keyed and each is given quite detailed coverage.  The species accounts themselves contain information on life history, abundance, habitat, exploitation, diseases, references.  Species of sport or economical import are afforded long accounts, with much discussion and many anecdote specific to Lake Oneida itself.  There are numerous photographs of habitat and study methods.  There are 4 color plates of fishes produced specifically for this volume.  This is a great case study on how much can be learned about one system.  And its nice to see so much work and so much dedication and so much knowledge accumulated – and not single molecular geneticist in sight.

Catalogue of the fishes of New York
by Tarleton H. Bean.  1903
Albany, University of the state of New York, 1903. 784 pp. Not illustrated.

Catalog is a good word for this work.  It’s more than a check list and not really a guide.  Tarleton Bean (1846 - 1916) was a widely experienced ichthyology and fishery researcher from the East Coast School of American ichthyology – not directly part of Jordan’s very large group.  Here he gives us what he describes as a preliminary accounting of New York’s fishes – both marine and freshwater.  The catalog is not illustrated, but Bean provides synonymies for all species covered, partly with an eye towards leading the reader towards good illustrations.  There are no identification keys, but Bean directs us towards the then quite contemporary works of Jordan and Evermann for keys.  In the species accounts in this work, the author provides a synonymy, descriptive information, distribution in New York and beyond, taxonomic issues, life history information and other tidbits of interest – commercial or sport or aquarium interest.  Bean notes that even at this seemly late date (early 20th century), the inland areas of New York were poorly sampled and thus the fauna poorly known.
I have two copies of this tome -- one is from the library of William K. Gregory of the American Museum of Natural History.  It bears his handwritten initials on the front end leaf and his hand-stamped name on the front paste down.  The other has signature of Barton A. Bean (brother to T. H. Bean) on the front paste down.

The Fishes of Long Island
by Tarleton H. Bean.  1901 (1902)
6th Annual Report of the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission of the State of New York, 373-478, not illus., extracted reprint, wrappers.

Two hundred and forty one species are included in this report which is basically an annotated checklist.  It is not illustrated and there are no maps or identification keys.  The author constructed this list based on his own collections, and drawing from available literature.  It’s interesting to think that at the time of its writing the work of DeKay (1841), for example, doesn’t seem quite as antique as it does today.  Only 14 freshwater species are listed, the remainder being marine or anadromous.  The species accounts discuss occurrence around Long Island and any other interesting tidbits that Bean had drawn from the literature or his own observations.  For example, under Cyprinus carpio (carp), he tells the story (drawn from DeKay) of early efforts to introduce this annoying invader to the waters of New York.






The Food and Game fishes of New York: notes on their common names, distribution, habits and mode of capture
by Tarleton H. Bean.  1903
Albany, J. B. Lyon company, Seventh Annual Report of the New York Forest, Fish and Game Commission, p. 251-460, 132 text figs., 9 color plates, soft bound (also issued separately)

The title sums up this volume nicely.  This is not a revisionary or scientific treatise.  A brief introduction to the New York ichthyofauna is followed by species accounts, no maps, but each is illustrated with a black and white drawing (pulled from the image library of the U.S. Fish Commission, these drawings were widely used in the late 19th/early 20th centuries – and actually continue to be used today).  The information is basic, description, range, habitat, tidbits about commercial exploitation or angling.  The color plates show prominent species, they are a little flat, but nice.  I have two copies, one is hardbound, but this appears to have done by a library; my other copy is in wrappers and I assume that is how the work was issued.
The author is identified as “Chief, Department of Fish and Game, World’s Fair, St. Louis.”  Cool title.










The lake and brook lampreys of New York especially those of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes
by Simon Henry Gage.  1893
The Wilder Quarterly Book, Ithaca New York, 421-493, 8 pls, wrappers.  Separate.

    The author gives a detailed overview of lampreys in this region, Lampetra appendix and Petromyzon marinus (current taxonomy).  Life history general biology and some aspects of anatomy and microanatomy are discussed.  Gage studied lampreys for decades; Hubbs and Trautman (1937) would honor him with the patronym Ichthyomyzon gagei.
    Simon H. Gage was an accomplished and influential microscopist.  My copy is inscribed by the author to C. M. Boxmeyer, a Cornell Microscopy assistant and 1906 MD graduate.  It also bears a Stanford Natural History Museum stamp (discarded), and the handstamp of R. Harry, Jr. (dated 1946).  This may be R.R. Harry, Jr. who was associated with George S. Myers at Stanford in the 1930s and 1940s.  One of the fun things about old books is tracking their history using clues in the signatures and stamps found there-in.  I’ll sometimes buy a book or reprint mostly for the association or signature.



















Illustrated guide to Hudson River Fishes
by James M. Haynes and Norman J. Fisch.  1993
Hudson River Foundation, New York, New York. xviii + 114, illus.  Soft cover, spiral bound

Being able to identify the elements of a flora or fauna are key to sound management, exploitation and conservation.  It’s also nice from a purely academic perspective.  The Hudson River of New York state forms a heavily impacted and much utilized watershed.  This basin specific guide allows users to dispense with all the species (for example in a state-wide guide) that do not occur in the basin and focus just on those known to be present.  This volume is essentially a set of illustrated identification keys.  No maps or species accounts are offered.  The keys are illustrated with clear line drawings.  There are two appendices – one is a check list of fishes included in the guide; the other is a list of fishes NOT included in the guide (I’ve never seen this particular feature in a book).  This second list comprises species that have been recorded in the river (pretty much stray marine creatures), but are unlikely to be encountered except under unusual circumstances.






A trout survey of the Allegany State Park in 1922
by William Converse Kendall and Willford A. Dence.  1927

Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, 4(3): 285-490 p. illus., folding map., 5 tab. (4 fold.) 23cm.  Soft bound.

Here we have a very detailed report giving us insight into the trout situation in the waters of Allegany State Park in western New York State.  As angling became a more popular pastime and anglers had increasing access to natural waters, concern over their impact on the resource came to fore.  Managing these waters well required data – reports like this provided these data. This volume also contains a brief report for those less interested in trout, entitled, “Preliminary survey of the fish life of Allegany State Park by Kendall.  The species are listed in a table.






The fishes of the Cranberry Lake Region
by William Converse Kendall.  1929
Rosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. 5 (2): 219-309, illus., soft cover.

Cranberry Lake is an artificial impoundment in upstate New York.  This report details it from a fishery / angling perspective. Habitats and their fishes are described and human impacts on fishes (especially trout) are discussed in detail, including numerous anecdotal observations.  Of particular concern seems to be the decline in the fishery as the site became better known to anglers, and more accessible to them via roads and motor cars.  Numerous black and white photographs illustrate the habitats around Cranberry Lake.

Also bound in this volume is an article called “The Story of King’s Pond” by Dr. F.A. Lucas and Kendall.  Here are given angling details over many years as the pond (near Plymouth, Mass.) was subjected to angling pressure and introduction of black bass (genus Micropterus).








Report in Part of Samuel L. Mitchill on the Fishes of New York
By Samuel L. Mitchill. 1898. , edited by Theodore Gill.
Washington, D.C., privately printed. 30 pages, unillus., wrappers. 9" x 5.5"

This small report is a reprint fo S. Mitchill’s 1814 work of the same name. Gill, in his introduction, reports that copies of Mitchills report are extremely scarce, thus warranting this reprinting of it. Gill also offers a detailed introduction and analysis.

The body of the report is largely a descriptive catalog of marine and freshwater fishes from the waters of New York. This is surely one of the earliest icthhyological treatises of the New American Republic.

This report was printed privately by Gill. Typical of works from the late 19th C, the paper has become brittle, especially the slightly thicker paper of the light green wrappers.







Fishes of the Vicinity of New York City
by John Treadwell Nichols, introduction by William K. Gregory.  1918
New York, Printed at the Museum, Handbook Series No. 7,. 118 pp.,. colored frontis, illus. in black and white.  Cloth covered boards.

This is an interesting piece.  It’s goal was to provide the good people of New York City with a concise guide to ichthyology and their local fishes (fresh water and marine).  Being near the coast, with plenty angling opportunities and a large fish market, there are plenty of fishes in “the vicinity.”  It opens with an introduction of fish biology by William K. Gregory, including a number of detailed skeletal drawings.  Nichols offers an introduction to ichthyology and fish identification.  A key to families is included, followed by species accounts, detailed largely at the family level.  The accounts are grouped unnaturally on the basis of gross anatomy.  This is somewhat like producing a guide to wild flowers grouped by flower color (instead of systematic relationships) – useful for the uninitiated, which is the audience for this book.  The information provided includes details on identification, general biology, angling and eating.  There’s a color frontis piece of a brook trout; the caption reads, “The handsomest of our game fishes, now unfortunately uncommon in the vicinity of New York.”  A number of black and white text figures are drawn largely from the standard set first seen (to my knowledge) in U.S. Fish Commission publications.
I’ve never seen this book with a dust jacket; I don’t know if it was issued with one.






The Inland Fishes of New York State
by C. Lavett Smith.  1985
Albany, NY: The Department, xi + 522 pp., illus. in black and white and color, maps.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-9615433-0-2

One hundred and sixty seven native and nonnative species are covered in this volume.  The volume contains much information in a fairly compact tome.  Fairly standard front matter with sections on biogeography, history, hydrography, etc., lead into the species accounts. Illustrated keys are provided.  Each account is headed by a stippled drawing of the species and a spot map of the distribution in New York (the illustration and map are on the small side).  Unusual for a state fishes book, an extensive section on marine fishes in the inland waters of New York is included.  There is a gallery of color plates of freshwater fishes.





Freshwater Fishes of New York State:  A Field Guide
by Robert G. Werner.  1980
Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, vi +186 pp., illus.  Hardcover, pictorial boards, no dust jacket
ISBN 0-8156-2233-3

Written as a concise identification guide to the fishes of New York state, this is the first complete guide or catalog of New York’s fish fauna since Bean’s 1903 Catalogue.  The author gives us a set of illustrated keys, something the students, naturalists, conservation/management workers of every state or region really need.  One hundred and sixty three species are included.  Species accounts are detailed and included a list of taxon specific references.  There are no maps and, unusually for a book of this type, there are no illustrations of fishes themselves.  Smith's  1985 Inland Fishes .... provides these....but can hardly be called a "field guide."





North Carolina




Partial synopsis of the fresh water fishes of North Carolina, 2nd Edition

by E. D. Cope.  1877

Philadelphia. 448 - 495 pp. illus., March

This report was first published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Vol. 11: 448-495, 1870).  The second edition is a reprint offered by Cope (according to his preface) because the original printing was too small to meet the demand.  Cope added several addenda on a final page in this second edition.  This synopsis is based on a series of collections made by the author (using a seine lent to him by the Smithsonian. Nice.).  Over 80 species are listed and described, a number are described as new.  A scattering of text figures illustrate diagnostic traits.

Important Food and Game Fishes of North Carolina
by Willis King.  1947
Dept. of Conservation and Development, Division of Game and Inland Fisheries, 54 pages, illus. in black and white, soft cover

This guide by Dr. King is more detailed than many in this particular genre (booklet-like state guide mainly for anglers).  Just under 30 species are included - about half of which are centrarchids, as would be typical for a warm-water state.  There’s an identification key.  Species accounts are illustrated with black and white images (drawings or photographs).  The species accounts cover the basics in detail - description, range, natural history, angling and conservation.  The booklet closes with a reference section for those wishing to delve deeper.  Willis King has a long career in freshwater fishery management with state agencies and the federal government.  Here is his biography.

The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina
by Edward F. Menhinick.  1991
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, vi + 227, illus. in black and white, maps.  Glossy pictorial boards (no dust jacket issued apparently)ISBN0-9628949-0-7

    This is a useful addition to rgional guides to North American fish faunas, but also a rather limited one.  It’s essentially an illustrated key to the fauna, plus spot maps.  Two hundred and twenty two species (native and exotic) are included.  Brief front matter is followed a key to families and then family accounts, each with a key.  Each species is illustrated with a half-tone drawing, and a spot map provided.  Species accounts which in works such as this typically include details of biology, ecology, conservation status are not present.  Distributional and identification tables and a literature cited close out the volume.  The drawings are consistent across the work.  They appear to have been reworked from existing drawings.  A lot of them bear strong resemblance to the fish illustrations originally used in publications of the U.S. Fish Commission, which may be their original source.  I acquired my copy new from the publisher when first issued.  It did not come with a dust jacket; I assume none was issued.  It did come with two loose addenda sheets.















North Dakota


Fishes of North Dakota

by North Dakota Game and Fish Department; illustrations by Maynard Reese

North Dakota Game and Fish Department. 1986 (April). 8 pages, color illustrations

This is another of those short guides from a Game and Fish Agency that are provided to anglers and interested parties through the mail or at fairs. Information in this is very basic, and primarily games fishes (native and non-native) are covered.

Most of the illustrations are the  excellent paintings by Maynard Reese which have graced the many editions of Iowa Fish and Fishing.

Ohio

Fishes of Ohio (a book of color plates)
artwork by Lydia M. (Hart) Green and Charlotte M. Pinkerton.
Department of Agriculture and Division of Conservation and Natural Resources, Ohio. ca. 1940., 41 color plates.

This is an interesting piece; it consists almost entirely of 42 chromolithographic plates first published in Forbes and Richardson’s Fishes of Illinois - 1908), with the barest of introductions: 

“This booklet, containing color plates of a great many of the food and game fishes of Ohio, should be of great educational value – aiding in acquainting a larger portion of our residents in properly identifying their catches and in bringing about a greater realization of the many find species which may be found in Ohio waters”

That’s it.  It was published by state agencies. It is undated, but bears the governor’s name, John W. Bricker, in office 1939-1945.  The plates are nicely reproduced (“used by courtesy of the Illinois Natural History Survey”); the images will be familiar to anyone who peruses in early to mid 20th Century literature on North American fishes, as they were used a number of times in different works.

Nice period piece.

I’ve turned up another copy of this, apparently of later issue.  It comes in a green cover (see picture), with no date or other identifying information (as seen on the edition above).  The contents are exactly the same.








Know your fish -- See them alive at the Ohio State Fair

Anonymous. No date - 1930s?

State of Ohio, Division of Conservation, Department of Agriculture, 20 p., illus.

This is exactly the type of pamphlet that would have been distributed at the state fair – as it says in its title. It’s a small format booklet that includes 13 fish paintings (the Forbes and Richardson plates presented in black and white and greatly reduced. It’s mostly centrarchids and ictalurids. The back section offers a digest of hunting and fishing regulation. It’s noted the game laws are correct to 1933, so I would put that as the minimum date.  And the correct term here would be "fishes" not "fish."






Report on the Fishes of Ohio
by David Starr Jordan.  1882
Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio, Section IV: 735-1002.

Here David Starr Jordan turns his formidable command of the literature of North American fishes and his keen eye for fish diversity to the ichthyofauna of Ohio.  He starts with a historical survey of studies of Ohioan fishes and their taxonomy.  The sometimes confusing works on Rafinesque are put in to context.  One hundred and sixty-five species are included in the taxonomic section.  The taxonomic order is a little puzzling to me, but does start with lampreys and ends with sticklebacks.   The accounts include a synonymy, description and observations on natural history.  There are identification keys, but no illustrations or maps.
Of interest to me, in the account of Amia calva, Jordan addresses the plethora of odd vernacular names this fish has collected.  Jordan refers to it as “the lawyer,” a name that, according to Kirkland, means “it will bite anything, and is good for nothing when caught.”  Why is it called “John a. Grindle” in the south remains obscure.










Native Fishes of Ohio
by Daniel L. Rice and  Gary Meszaros.  2014
Kent, Ohio : The Kent State University Press, xiv + 113, illus. in color, soft cover
ISBN 978-1-60635-208-3

Here is a nicely presented and attractive volume on the fishes of the midwestern state.  The intended  audience clearly is the general public.  It is always my hope that anglers pick up works such as this and learn the importance of non-game (native) species, and come to appreciate this fauna.    The text is general and presented at the family genus level, with a minimum of italicized Latin names.  The photographs are excellent, appearing to be mostly of captive fishes in naturalistic settings.  One main critique is the complete lack of Latin binomials – even in an appendix or check-list.  Many of us don’t know or bother with common names (but then folks like me aren’t the main audience).











The Fishes of Ohio with illustrated keys
by Milton Bernhard Trautman.  1957.

Columbus:Ohio:  State University Press, in collaboration with the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the Ohio State University. 1957.  xv + 683 pp., illus. in black and white and color.  Green cloth covered boards in dust jacet.

The fishes of Ohio with illustrated keys (revised edition)
by Milton Bernhard Trautman.  1981.
Columbus: Ohio State University Press:  1981 (revised edition). xxv +782 pp. : illus (some colored) ; 28 cm. Hard cover in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-8142-0213-6

Milton Trautman’s The Fishes of Ohio is the first modern, large revisionary guide to a state fauna.  If one is involved with North American freshwater fishes, it would be hard to not have this volume.  It set a high standard in content, presentation and style.  Detailed introductory chapters discuss the hydrology of Ohio, and the history of its ichthyological exploration.  There is guide to fish identification, a key to families and species, and the species accounts.  Each of the latter spans at least a couple pages.  Each species is illustrated with a stippled line drawing (sometimes with multiple views).  The spot map of Ohio distribution for each is large and coded with different symbols, sometimes these indicate intergrades vs. pure populations, others are coded for different spans of dates (the latter is useful for tracking changes in the fauna (although I find it a little distracting).  There’s also a shaded range map of North America.  There’s a gallery of 7 colored plates at the end of the volume. These are nice, but not exceptional.

The back of the dust jacket contains a piece by the director of the Natural Resources Institute of Ohio State University.  It (seems to me) projects is a very consumption based view of natural resources and fishes – i.e., fishes are there to be angled, and if they are not angled, then they must be forage.

The second edition of some 25 years later is largely the same volume, with updates (including many new references) given within each species account.  Documenting increased knowledge for many species, these also largely highlight the decline of many species as they face increasingly degraded habitats and expanding human impact.
The second edition exists with two different dust jackets (that I've seen):  green (earlier) and blue (later).  The blue dust jacket (covering blue cloth covered boards) notes the passing of Dr. Trautman (in 1990) on the dust jacket and copyright page; the volume is also somewhat thicker, being printed on heavier paper.











A prelimiary study of Ohio fishes
by E. L. Wickliff.  1925
Columbus, Ohio, Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Fish and Game, unumbered pages, illus. (mimeo)

Edward L. Wickliff (1893 - 1975) was the chief fishery biologist in Ohio for many years.  This report is a series of semi related articles on various aspects of Ohio ichthyology.  There is a primer on fish biology, chapters devoted to certain key groups, such as the Centrarchidae, an article on carp, one on pollution, etc. Some sections are illustrated with line drawings, and some groups are provided with identification guides.  The report is printed on oblong paper via mimeograph (or some similar process).  The report is not dated, although someone has penciled “1925" on the title page...that sounds about right, so I went with it.  I imagine there were relatively few copies produced and fewer surviving to this day.






List of the Fishes of Ohio
by Edward L. Wickliff and Milton B. Trautman.  1934

Ohio, Department of Agriculture, Division of Conservation - Bulletin No. 1, 4 pp.  January 1, 1934.   Mimeo, 2 stapled sheets.

This is a type-written (2 pages, double-sided) mimeographed (or some similar duplication process) list of the native and non-native fishes confirmed from Ohio with preserved specimens.  Each is listed with a Latin binomial and a common name.  There is little in the way of introductory or explanatory text.  A total of 163 different species and subspecies are included.  Also added is a short list of species known to be introduced, but not established.  There is note that reads “The word ‘Ohio’ refers to the Ohio drainage basin."  Here is the foundation of Fishes of Ohio (see above).

Oklahoma

The Fishes of Oklahoma (first edition, first printing)
by Rudolph J. Miller and Henry W. Robison
Oklahoma State University Press. 1973. xii + 246, illustrated. Cloth covered boards in DJ (also issued in stiff boards)

This small book is one of the first fish books I ever bought.  This is a very handy volume in the field or in the lab. It is typical of the smaller state fish books, in the tradition of Frank Cross’s Handbook of Fishes of Kansas.  A brief introduction is followed by family-by-family species accounts.  Illustrated keys to family, genera and species are both well-crafted and well-tested.  The accounts are tightly written and informative.  The fishes are illustrated with black and white photographs; the range maps come in the form of shaded area maps.  The one color illustration (Etheostoma spectabile) appears on the cover and was painted by the first author.

The first edition was issued in both hard cover with DJ and in stiff boards. Hardcover copies are quite scarce on the market, even rarer with DJ.  I sought one for about 20 years before finally finding a copy on ebay. The softcover version (glued binding) is more often seen, but still uncommon.  The binding was fragile and with use the pages came loose. I know a number of people who drilled their soft cover copies and mounted them in small 3-ring binders for lab or field use. A second printing (in 1980) was spiral bound; these copies hold up much better.  Many I’ve seen offered show the effects of lab and/or field use.

Rarity note - the initial print run of the dust jacket appeared with Henry Robison’s name misspelled (as “Robinson”).  The error was caught and only a very small number of copies with this misspelling were preserved.





Know your Oklahoma Fishes - revised
by Hubert Case Ward, illustrated by Wallace Hughes. 1963
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation, ii + 48 pp. illus. in black and white, soft cover

This the type of booklet that would have been distributed by regional wildlife officers or found on the Department of Wildlife Conservation table at a county fair. It’s directed at anglers (an angler is pictured on the cover), intended to assist them in identifying the larger and more common fishes of the state, and providing the basics of their biology. Representative species are illustrated with black and white drawings, which are sketchy but nice. There are no maps or keys. The book closes with “Check List of Known Oklahoma Fishes” compiled by George A. Moore and Carl D. Riggs (1963). On line sources credit authorship of this to H. C. Ward, although I can’t find his name anywhere in this booklet (perhaps it’s present in the first edition; I don't have a copy of this edition).




Oregon



Keys to Oregon freshwater fishes
by Carl E. Bond.  1961
Corvallis: Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Technical Bulletin 58, 42 pp.,
illus.

Keys to Oregon freshwater fishes - revised
by Carl E. Bond.  1973
Corvallis: Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Technical Bulletin 58 (revised), 42 pp., illus.

Here is a straightforward set of identification keys for Oregon freshwater fishes.  The author credits Leonard Schultz’s keys to the fishes of the Washington region as an aid in crafting this key – and notes that this key has been student tests.  This is always very useful.  Novice users are the ones who find the ambiguity and the problems with keys.  Illustrated with black and write drawings.  Little information on natural history or biology is imparted.
The 1973 revised version is largely the same although contains a pair of named cottids (sculpins) that were listed as Cottus sp. in the first edition.
Somebody should take these keys and build a book, “Freshwater Fishes of Oregon,” around them.







A Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Oregon
by Douglas F. Markle and Joseph R. Tomelleri (illustrator).  2016
Corvallis : Oregon State University Press, 140 pp., illus with color photographs, soft cover
ISBN 978-0-87071-873-1

This handy work offers a modern, illustrated key to the freshwater fishes (native and introduced) of Oregon.  A brief introduction sets the stage with the basics of fish identification and the hydrology of Oregon.  A key to families is offered and then family-by-family keys.  The keys are illustrated by color photographs (mostly of freshly preserved specimens) or the always excellent artwork of Joe Tomelleri.  There are family accounts that describe and offer the basics of the group in Oregon.  There are no species accounts as such, be as each species comes off on the key, there is an illustration and a description of range.









Pennsylvania



The Fishes of Pennsylvania - with descriptions of the species and notes on their common names, distributions, habits, reproduction, rate of growth and mode of capture
by Tarleton H. Bean.  1892
Report of the State Commissioners of Fisheries for the years 1889-90-91, appendix, vii + 150, 15 color plates, 20 black and with plates, faux leather covered boards.
    Here is a very early, comprehensive state fish guide.  The author provides a brief introduction mostly about methods and sources.  This work is not based on fresh collections or a new survey, but largely on literature sources and specimens available to the author in the collection of the Smithsonian.  One hundred and fifty seven species of freshwater fishes are included.  Each species account includes descriptive and distribution information.  Some general biology is also Bibliography of Fishes gives the publication date as 1893.

    Fifteen color plates by the highly regarded artist Sherman F. Denton are included.  A marginal label on each plate reads “Fishes of Pennsylvania - Bean.”  These plates are different than the Denton fish plates included in works on fishes of New York, and do not include Denton’s signature (as the New York ones do).  Twenty plates of black and white figures (3 fish per plate) fill out the volume, these figures are mostly pulled from the files of the U.S. Fish Commission files, although the author notes that some new drawings were rendered for this work by J.C. van Hook and A.H. Baldwin.
given, much more in accounts of sport or commercial species.  There are no maps or identification keys.  The author states in his introduction that this work is a preliminary account meant to encourage further more detailed study.  The piece is bound as an appendix in the Report of the State Commissions of Fisheries.  I don’t know if was issued as a separate.  Dean in his









Identifying the common fishes of Pennsylvania

by Keen Buss and Jack Miller. No Date.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Fish Commission.  16 pp., illus.

“Common fishes” in this title really means “game fishes.” Pictorial keys and simple drawings provided here allow the identification of these fishes – heavy on the centrarchids, ictalurids and salmonids.  Some basic natural history is presented for some species.  I can’t find a date anywhere on this piece.  One online source gives publication date as 1955.  Stylistically, that seems about right, and the addresses included here in lack Zip Codes, which indicates early 1960s at the latest.








Fishes of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States
by Edwin Lavern Cooper (1919-2009).  1983
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, vi + 243 pp., illus. in black and white.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket

ISBN 0-271-00337-5

This is an attractive guide to the ichthyofauna of Pennsylvania and, as the title suggests, adjacent states.  The introductory sections are brief and to-the-point; the species accounts form the main body of the book.  There are the requisite keys to identification.  Each species account is illustrated with a black and white photograph of a preserved specimen of the species in question (some are better than others).  The accounts contain the standard details, with citations (the book has nearly 1000 references).  The distribution maps are smaller than would be ideal, and they are based on an outline map of the state, lacking drainage basins.  Unusually, there are no color plates.  Color plates are a selling point for books such as this.  However, they increase production costs and thus final price.  As the price go up, the effective customer base for the book falls.







A List of the Fishes Recorded from Pennsylvania (Revised Edition)
by Henry Weed Fowler.  1948
Board of Fish Commissioner, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bulletin No. 7, 26 pp.

Fowler offers an updated check list (earlier ones from 1912 and 1919 – I’ll have to find copies of those).  It’s a list in taxonomic order by family.  The list includes the usual marine species that inhabit or stray into freshwater and includes introduced species (labeled as such).  General distributions are listed. One unusual feature is for each entry the common name is given first with the Latin binomial given after in parentheses.  The authors doesn’t give us a count of species and they are not numbered, and since I didn’t count them, we don’t have a total of species Fowler recognized from his home state- I estimate the list run over 200 species.  Fowler generally recognized many species that later authorities placed in synonymy with others - so like this list is partially populated with taxa no longer considered distinct.

Common Fishes of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Board of Fish Commissioners, illustrated by Fred Everett.  1937

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Board of Fish Commissioners, 15 pp. (unnumbered), illus. in color

Almost 20 of the more visible native and non-native fishes of Pennsylvania are covered in this angling booklet.  We have salmonids, centrarchids and a few miscellaneous species.  Nothing small and really nothing in the non-game camp.  A comment added for Catostomus commersonii is worth repeating, “The sucker furnishes sport for many beginners, and also for a great many of the older anglers who find trout and bass fishing too strenuous.”  The color paintings, apparently prepared for this report, are a little flat and stiff, but nice.  A 2 page essay on responsible angling ends the booklet - "If you would catch more fish -- kill less!"











Pennsylvania Fishes
by Pennsylvania Fish Commission, illustrated by Ned Smith.  1969
Pennsylvania Fish Commission, 31 pp., illus in color.  Soft cover.

    Just shy of 50 species are covered here.  There is no introduction, just a series of species accounts.  Each account is illustrated by a color painting (a few are half tones).  Accompanying text gives basic details of range and identification, and for the most part the tidbits of interest to an angler.  A number of smaller, non-game fishes are included, but the focus is on larger, more visible species.  There is no author credited; it was likely written by a state biologist.  The illustrations are credited to Ned Smith (1919-1985).  They are attractive and accurate, some a little flat or postery to my eyes.  After his passing, the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art was established in Millersburg Pennsylvania.











Identification Guide to Pennsylania Fishes
by Clark Shiffer, illustrated by George Lavanish.  1990
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Division, iv + 51, illus. in black and white.  Soft cover
    The introduction states that this piece is an updated version of the earlier Identifying the common fishes of Pennsylvania by Keen Buss and Jack Miller (undated) (see above).  This guide covers 64 species (less that half of the total ichthyofauna of the state), focusing on larger species and sport fishes.  Smaller species that are covered are typically common and widespread, bait species or serve to represent their family.  Some groups of smallish species, such as darters and mattoms, are completely omitted.  A short introduction is followed by a key to families.  Each family is given an introduction where most of the biological information provided is found.  Individual species accounts are accompanied by a black and white drawing, with identifying characters noted and described.












Pennsylvania fishes
by Linda Steiner.  2000
Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (2000), Paperback, 170 pages, illust.
ISBN 1-93036-901-8

Here’s a nice, compact guide to common and games fishes of Pennsylvania.  Front matter includes an introduction to fish biology – especially as of interest to the angler.  A checklist of fishes known from Pennsylvania is also included, but the species accounts include only larger, common are game fishes.  For examples, only 5-6 darters are discussed.  Species accounts summarize the typical information and are illustrated by color paintings - somewhat stylized or postery.  Not nearly as exhaustive or useful as Coopers 1983 volume, but workable for the amateur naturalist or angler.

Fishes of Erie County Pennsylvania - including Lake Erie and Presque Isle
by Paul Thomas and Edward Callahan. 1993
Elgin, PA. Allagheny Press, 337 pp., illus. in black and white.  Soft cover
ISBN 0-910042-68-2

Erie County of northeast Pennsylvania borders lake Erie.  Some 112 native and non-native species are covered.  A short introduction sets the stage.  Species account follow.  Each account is illustrated with a stippled-dot drawing, with the very basics of identification and habitat listed.






South Carolina


Fishes of some South Carolina coastal plain streams
by William D. Anderson, Jr.  1964
Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 27(1)(March): 31-54, 2 maps, offprint
    This report derives from an comprehensive series of collections made in south eastern South Carolina.  Some 166 collections from 1956 and 1957 yielded 53 species.  An annotated checklist is offered, plus some discussion and a literature cited.  My copy is from the reprint collection of George S. Myers, with his hand stamps and signature on the front wrapper.










The Fishes of the Savannah River Plant:  National Environmental Research Park
by David H. Bennett and Robert W. McFarlane.  1983Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, SRO-NERP-12, 152 pp., 21 text figs., Paperback

    This report results from series of collections on the plant site, plus records from previous collections.  Seventy-nine species are recorded.  The report’s front matter includes discussion of the site, its aquatic habitats and history of ichthyology studies.  The taxonomic section starts with a primer on fish identification with identification keys.  The species accounts are basic with details on recognition and occurrence on the plant site.













Notes on South Carolina Fresh-water Fishes
by Henry Weed Fowler.  1935
Contributions from the The Charleston Museum. No. 7, 28 pp., illus. 11 leaves of black and white plates.

The author here in gives us basically a check-list of fishes derived from 2 series of collections (one large, one small) from South Carolina.  Henry Fowler excelled at this type catalog-check-list type ichthyology.  The short introduction describes the region and sources of his specimens.  I didn’t count the species he covers – it probably approaches 100.  Each is listed, with a series of localities from which his specimens originated.  An occasional taxonomic or other note is included.  Fifty-four fishes are illustrated on black and white plates, in Fowler’s unique, somewhat stylized versions of how fishes appear.







Part II.  Fishes of the Savannah River Project Area
by Harry W. Freeman. 1954
University of South Carolina Publications (III) Biology 1(3): 117-156, wrappers (bound with several other papers)

    One hundred and three collections (103 sites) on the project area site yielded almost 3000 specimens distributed among 48 species.  A check list is provided with some discussion of distrubution.
other papers)

South Dakota

Fishes of South Dakota
by Reeve M. Bailey and Marvin O. Allum.  1962
Ann Arbor, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Misc. Publ. No. 119, 131 pp. illus. in black and white, maps.

This is a basic accounting of the ichthyofauna of South Dakota.  As the authors state in their introduction, this is not meant to be the definitive work on the state’s fishes, but rather an accounting (or perhaps what in the 19th century was called a synopsis).  The fauna such as it was known at the time was described and keyed.  Synonymies are given, but only a few distribution maps.  Basic details of biology and distribution are included.  The fishes are not illustrated; a single black and white plate illustrates the differences between Hybognaht placitus and H. nuchalis.  More than 50 years after the publication of this work, there still is no definitive guide to South Dakota Fishes.  Reeve Bailey excelled at this type of work (and many others).  His attention to detail and careful work lead to accurate keys, and reliable nomenclatural and taxonomic discussions.

Guide to the Common Fishes of South Dakota

by Robert M. Neumann and David W. Willis

Department of Wildlifeand Fisheries Sciences, South Dakota State University and South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks and South Dakota Extension Service. 1994 (reprinted 2007). 60 pp., illustrated (color paintings by Joe Tomelleri, and shaded area maps). 14 x 21 cm.

EC 899.

Another well-produced pocket guide from produced by state agencies. An illustration, map and basic information provided for each of about 50 species (native and non-native). “Common Fishes” generally means game species or larger, more visible species. Smaller, native species are certainly not emphasized in this guide.

Tennessee


The Fishes of Tennessee
by David A. Etnier and Wayne C. Starnes.  1993
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. xiv + 681 pp., illus. in color and black and white, maps.  Glossy pictorial boards, no dust jacket issued.
ISBN 0-87049-711-1

Appalachian states such as Tennessee have large native fish faunas.  Thus a book about them is a serious and lengthy undertaking.  The Fishes of Tennessee is a lavish and detailed accounting of the fauna of that state.  It was long in the making and must have been a huge relief to the authors when they sent off the last of the page proofs to their editor.  There is extensive front matter, including most of the standard topics.  A useful feature is a table of the fish fauna with drainage basins noted – over 300 native and non-native fishes are known from the state, with about 300 being native (compare with totals of approximately 45 native for Arizona, and 150 for Oklahoma).  There is even a section entitled “How to use the family and species accounts.”  There is a key to families, and family and genus keys presented.  The species accounts are long and detailed.  Each comes with a color photograph (high quality) of a freshly captured specimen, and as appropriate a photograph showing preserved coloration (often quite different than living coloration), and/or coloration of young.  Spot maps show known distribution within Tennessee, with a shading area inset map showing overall distribution.  Etymology of the names is also given – a feature the historically minded taxonomist in me finds interesting.  The text is well sources with a comprehensive bibliography.





A Guide to the Fishes of Tennessee and the Mid-south
by Eugene R. Kuhne.  1939
Nashville, Department of Conservation, 124 pp. illus. in black and white, map.  Soft cover

The stated goal of this book is to provide a reasonably complete guide of the larger and more visible species of the region for use by students, anglers and naturalists.  About 80 such species are keyed and discussed.  Fishes are illustrated with black and white photographs of preserved specimens, with basic details of biology noted in the species accounts.  Turn to the sections on the Cyprinidae or Percidae and you’ll find a few of the larger or wide-spread species covered, with dozens of rarer, smaller or less familiar forms found only in a pair of lists.  In a species intensive region such as Tennessee, more time and work was needed before the shiners/minnows and darters could be tackled coherently.
A nice example of a relatively early state or regional guide, my copy is inscribed and signed by the author.







Texas


A checklist of Texas freshwater fishes, Revised 1982

by Clark Hubbs. 1982

Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept (1982), Technical Series No. 11, 7 pp., map, paperbound

The late Dr. Hubbs lists 226 species in this check list of fishes known from the freshwater of Texas (this total includes marine species that regularly or occasionally stray into freshwaters).  This is the revised 1982 version of the 1976 original.  This fishes are listed in taxonomic order with their distribution (by drainage) noted; endangered species are also noted.  No key or identification information are provided.  A work such as this (as I’ve noted elsewhere) is a key first step to regional guide.  The introduction also gives the author to comment on the work of others – regarding various taxonomic issues (not everybody recognizes the same taxa at the same level).  There is no thorough revision / guide to the freshwater fishes of Texas.  Clark was an obvious choice to produce this work, but never did.




Fishes found in the freshwaters of Texas
by Frank Tyrwhitt Knapp.  1953.
Ragland Studio and Litho Print. Co (1953), Edition: 1st, softbound (stapled), 166 pages, illustrated

This book is essentially an set of illustrated keys to the freshwater fishes of Texas, not at all a revisionary guide.  Some 40 families, 94 genera and 190 species are covered; this includes true freshwater species (the majority) and that handful of marine species that penetrate freshwaters.  The book contains detailed and illustrated keys to families, genera and species.  The species are illustrated in key form with simple line drawings, with diagnostic features indicated.  There is no complete or broad revision of the fishes of Texas (as there is for many states); a work such as this fills the need for a checklist and identification guide for use by conservation workers, zoology students, naturalists.  My copy is from the library of ichthyologist William W. Hassler.

Freshwater Fishes of Texas: A Field Guide
by Chad Thomas, Timothy H. Bonner and Bobby G. Whiteside. 2007.
TAMU Press, 220 pages, illustrated, in stiff boards.
ISBN 1-58544-570-3

This small book is a field guide – as stated in its title. The front matter is limited and the details in each species account are basic. We don’t find detailed revisionary details in the species accounts, or a lengthy discussion of hydrology and biogeography in the front matter. That said, this well produced guide offers what no other work presently does: an other inclusive identification guide to the fishes of Texas. This gives students, conservation workers and such a much needed and, I’m sure, much appreciated tool. A key to species is offered and each species is illustrated with a good quality color photograph (most appear to be freshly preserved specimens) and a small shaded area range map.

Vermont

Fishes of Vermont
by Richard W. Langdon, Mark T. Ferguson and Kenneth M. Cox.  2006
Vermont Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, 2006, 320 pp., illus. in black and white and color. Soft bound.
ISBN 0-9772517-1-3

“A Field Guide to the fish species of Vermont” is the subtitle on this work.  It is a nicely done work
presented in a pretty typical fashion for this level of state book.  Introductory sections introduce the reader to the state’s landscape and hydrology.  As a northern tier state, there, of course, is discussion of glaciation and its impact of fishes.  A survey of human study of and impact on Vermont’s fishes follows.  There are keys to families and to species.  The species species key includes detailed descriptive paragraphs for each species – a feature I don’t think I’ve noticed before.  Each species account spreads across a pair of facing pages.  Each species is illustrated with a color photograph, mostly of fresh specimens.  A spot distribution map covers most of one page (it’s nice the have the maps reproduced large enough to see detail), and there is a small shaded area range map of overall distribution.  The text is detailed covering the standard aspects of a fish’s biology.  There is a bibliography, but specific works are not cited in the text.
Vermont is one of those states that lacked a comprehensive, modern faunal guide.  This work filles the gap nicely.






Utah

Fishes of Utah
by William F. Sigler and Robert Rush Miller.  1963
Salt Lake City, Utah State Department of Fish and Game, 203 pp. illus. in black and white, color plates, map.  Hardcover, no dust jacket issued (at least I’ve never seen one).  Also issued in soft
cover.

Here we have a compact state fish that covers the basics of the state’s ichthyofauna.  There is also a discussion of angling (especially salmonids) which is typical for books of this era (and earlier), and of books from western states.  Typical introductory matter (hydrology, history, basic ichthyology) is followed by detailed species accounts.  Coverage is heavy on the salmonids, but other species are not neglected.  There are no distribution maps.  Keys and checklists close out the volume.  The black and white drawings are derived from various sources, some are particularly good.
This is another western state fish book that included Maynard Reece’s (mostly) gamefish paintings that first appeared in Iowa Fish and Fishing (Fish and Fisheries of Nevada by La Rivers is another example).  Few, if any, of the species portrayed are native to Utah.  They don’t add much to the content, but likely enhanced commercial appeal.







Fishes of Utah:  a natural history
by William F. Sigler and John W. Sigler, illustrations by Joseph R. Tomelleri.  1996
Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, xxiii + 375 pp. : illus. in black and white, map, color plates by J. Tomelleri.  Hardcover in dust jacket
ISBN 0-87480-469-8

Sigler and Miller (1963) offered us the first complete guide to Utah fishes.  This is an updated and greatly expanded coverage of the fauna.  The front matter is detailed and puts the fauna in context, with regard to hydrology and biogeography.  The updated identification key is written by Jerry Smith.  The species are illustrated with wonderfully detailed and life-like paintings.  The species accounts carry the typical information – habitat, biology, management.  Also included a summary of nomenclature/taxonomy, and the etymology of each Latin name (I like the latter).  There are no distribution maps (a feature I feel should always be included and well worth the effort and expense when crafting a book).  The back matter includes sections of water management (a key issue in a arid state) and angling.










Virginia

Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Virginia
by Paul E. Bugas, Jr., Corbin D. Hilling, Val Kells, Michael J. Pinder, Derek A. Wheaton & Donald J. Orth.  Illustrated by Val Kells and Joseph R. Tomelleri.  2019
John Hopkins University Press, 195 pages, illus. in color, maps.  Soft cover
     We have here an attractive and compact guide to the freshwater fishes found in Virginia.  This volume will make a useful companion to the huge tome by Jenkins, which is certainly not a field guide.  There is fairly standard front matter to set the stage - ecology, conservation, identification.  Species accounts follow.  They are concise, outlining general biology and identification.  Shaded range maps for Virginia only are given.  Some closely related species share the same account, but separate ranges are noted on the maps as appropriate.  Species are illustrated with color paintings (Tomelleri’s are always excellent), a few with color photographs.  Compact guides such as these are essential for field workers, who don’t need the phylogenetic context or taxonomic histories (as interesting as those are), but must be able to reliably name the creatures they encounter.















Freshwater fishes of Virginia
by Robert E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead.  1993 (1994)
Bethesda, Md.: American Fisheries Society. xxiii + 1079 pp., illus. in black and white and color, cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-913235-87-3

This is one of the most comprehensive state fish books every published.  Extensive front matter covers the basics, history of Virginia ichthyology, hydrology and habitats, biogeography, conservation and even a bit on the fossil fishes of the state.  The main body a book like this consists of species accounts.  They along with the front matter offer an excellent example of how to present a fish guide.  The species accounts are long and detailed.  Each illustrated with at least one black and white photograph; the photographs are clear and consistent AND produced in a large enough size to be useful.  Maps likewise are presented large enough that the details can be resolved.  There is a gallery of color plates of habitats (always a nice feature).  The color plates of fishes portray mostly freshly preserved specimens with life colors in tact (they are labeled only with common names – which I find a little annoying as I rarely fishes by their common names).  The identification keys are detailed and illustrated where necessary or useful.  This book was certainly costly to produce and publish, but I don’t remember the cost when new being that much out of line with most other large fish books of the era.  Production costs were underwritten by the Virginia Department of Inland Fisheries and The Greenstone Foundation.  Support like this keeps the final price down and widens the audience for an important work like this.
The water color on the dustjacket by Lora Leigh Geissler portrays spawning stream cyprinids -- a riot of activity that is really fun to witness.











Freshwater Fishes (of the James River Basin, Virginia)
by Edward C. Raney.  1950In: The James River Basin Past, Present and Future, Virgina Academy of Science.  pp. 151-194, not illus., separate, wrappers.

    This is essentially an annotated checklist of fishes known from the James River, with an introduction providing historical context.  Twenty-one families, 52 genera and 73 species (based on 1950 taxonomy) are included.  Dichotomous keys are provided for some separations (but not all). 

Washington

Inland fishes of Washington

by Richard S. Wydoski and Richard R. Whitney.  1979

Seattle: University of Washington Press.  220 pp., illus in black and white with color pates. hardcover in dust jacket and paper back

ISNB 0-295-95644-5 (paper back)  ISBN 0-295-95643-7 (hardcover)

A compact guide to the fishes (native and introduced) found in the freshwaters of Washington state – so this is freshwater fishes, with those pesky marine intruders.  Front matter sets the stage regarding the region and basic fish biology and identification.  The species are illustrated with color photographs – most of freshly preserved individuals.  There are a few text figures, mostly to demonstrate diagnostic traits in keys.  The species accounts cover basic biology and include selected references.  There are no distribution maps.
Interesting point – I didn’t realize that a madtom (Noturus gyrinus had been introduced to northwestern waters).
Except for the cover, the paperback and hard cover version appear to be exactly the same.





Inland fishes of Washington - 2nd Edition - Revised and Expanded
by Richard S. Wydoski and Richard R. Whitney.  2003

Bethesda, Md.: American Fisheries Society in Association with University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2003. xiii + 322, illus., maps. Hardcover with glossy pictorial boards.

ISBN 0-205-98338-8

This is a useful updating of the original. It is larger in format, with more information, and also shows the inclusion of shaded area range maps.  The first edition surely saw heavy use in the region with many copies worn out in the lab or field.

West Virginia



The Fishes of West Virginia
by Jay R. Stauffer, Jr., Jeffrey M. Bolz and Laura R. White.  Illustrated by M. Katz.  1995
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 146, 1-389, illus. in black and

    With this book, West Virginia left the shrinking number of states lacking a modern accounting of their ichthyofauna.  This work, as is typical with these endeavors, was years in the making.  Here we have a solid presentation of the state’s fauna.  The front matter is shorter than some, and includes a foldout map of the state with collecting sites noted.  Identification keys are offered.  The species accounts are detailed.  Each has an attractive stippled dot drawing of the species (artist M. Katz), and a spot map (the spots are not coded as to date).  A color frontispiece portrays Ethestoma osbuni.  At least one scholarly review published at the time of issue noted inconsistencies in presentation and a few other technical issues.
    This work was issued in the serial Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and as a separate hard-bound book.  I bought my copy new when it was issued, and there was no dust jacket.  I assume none was issued.
white, maps.  Also separate in cloth covered boards (no dust jacket issues apparently)











Identifying 50 prominent fishes of West Virginia
by Harry Van Meter.  1950
The Conservation Commission of West Virginia, Division of Fish Management, Publ. No. 3:  45 p., illus.  Small format, soft cover

This piece does meet the description of pocket guide – a small booklet in stiff wrappers that would fit nicely into the pocket of a fishing vest or tackle box.  The title pretty much captures the content as well.  Fifty native and non-native species (mostly the larger ones or potential sport fishes, or ‘bait’ species) are illustrated (in simple but useful sketches) and their identifying traits noted.  Some biological/natural history information is included.  There is one interesting tidbit in the introduction – it notes that this small guide covers only about one third of the species likely to be found in West Virginia, and that Edward Raney will produce complete guide to the state’s ichthyofauna.  This guide was never published; I don’t know if it was ever started.





Wisconsin

Fishes of Wisconsin
by George C. Becker.  1983
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983. xii + 1052 pp., illus. (color and black and white), maps. Cloth covered boards in dust jacket
ISBN 0-299-08790-5

This is one of the exhaustive, encyclopedic volumes that take most of a career to produce, in this case that of George Becker (d. 2002).  The main body of the book consists of detailed and extensively referenced species accounts.  Each comes with a small black and white photograph of the species, a spot map of Wisconsin collections and a shaded area range map of over all distribution.  The species accounts summarize just about anything that the author could discover or observe on the fish in question.  Front matter, for such a large book, seems a bit modest – covering the typical topics for a state or regional book (hydrography, management/conservation, identification).  There are identification keys and a gallery of color plates. If we want to quibble about faults in a volume such as this, I would point to the color plates.  Most are of preserved specimens and presented in small size – each of these limits the utility and attractively of this feature of a book.  Any serious North American ichthyologist with an appreciation of his/her science will have a copy of this.

At 1000+ pages, it is a thick tome, event hough it is printed on paper that is thinner than found in many books.







The Distribution of Wisconsin Fishes
by Carroll Willard Greene.  1935.

Madison: State of Wisconsin, Conservation Commission, 235 pp., 96 maps. Wrappers

If the understanding of a fauna starts with the checklist, then certainly a work like this is an important second step – first the what, then the where.  Here in, Greene lists some 149 native and non-native fishes, and maps 96 of them with spot maps.  The maps are primarily based on over 1400 fish collections.  Imagine how much fun it was to collect these faunas before all the damage and alterations that

humans have wrought on them over the past 60 years.  Each species, whether mapped or not has a brief and basic species account, mostly focused on distributional details.  Detailed front and back matter helps put these distributions in context. Its also interesting to read through the details of the surveys and see just what the authors of this time felt was important enough to mention.  My copy is from the library of Justin W. Leonard (1909 - 1975), a University of Michigan wildlife biologist.









Wisconsin fishes 2000:  Status and distribution
by John Lyons, Philip A. Cochran and Don Fago.  2000
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, 87 pp, illus. in color, maps.  Soft bound
ISBN 0936287-06-3

This small book provides a detailed update of George Becker’s (1983) Fishes of Wisconsin.  Users of any state fish book would feel lucky to have such an update.  The 147 fishes native to Wisconsin are given updates (sometimes with a fair amount of detail), with new discoveries added, along with the inevitable changer in taxonomy.  Becker’s work is an essential (and now quite expensive) volume in any serious North American  ichthyologist’s library.  This volume should sit right next to it (it does on my shelf).










Wyoming



Wyoming Fishes
by George T. Baxter and James R. Simon.  1970 (revised)
Cheyenne, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Bulletin No. 4, 168 pp. illus., maps.  Soft bound

George Baxter has taken the 1946 Wyoming Fishes by James Simon (see below) and given us an updated and revised version.  Many new records and references are added and the taxonomy updated.  Spot maps detail the distribution of all species, and each is illustrated with a clear black and white photograph of a preserved specimen.  This book cites scientific and fisheries literature and has a literature cited - some lacking in many smaller state or regional books.  I’ve never seen a hard cover copy of this edition.










The Fishes of the Yellowstone National Park

by William Converse Kendall.  1915
Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 818, 28 pp., 17 text figs., wrappers.

 
Kendall records that there are ten fish species native to Park waters, with six game fishes having been introduced.  He offers stocking details for these invaders.  His report describes various habitats within the park, largely in regard to their angling value.  There is an identification key to fishes of park waters and then species accounts.  The game species (native and non) get more text.  Details of distribution, angling value and biology are sketched or discussed.  Each species is illustrated with a black and white drawing pulled from the library of drawings of the U.S. Fish Commission (by now called the Bureau of Fisheries).









Yellowstone Fish and Fishing
by F. Phillip Sharpe.  1970
Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.  1970.  49 p. (incl. cover) illus. (part col.) 22 cm.

I imagine this was produced and issued as Jim Simons’ Yellowstone Fishes became dated and out-of-print.  The volume is directed primarily at the anglers, not so much naturalists or fish biologists – hence the words “fish” (rather than “fishes”), and (obviously) “fishing” in the title.  There is detailed front matter on management and history and ecology (right down to discussions of food chains and parasites).  About half the book is devoted to the fishes, but most of that covering salmonids.  There are identification keys and guides as to where to find various sport fishes.  The salmonids are illustrated with color paintings – the non-game fishes (suckers and minnows mostly) are illustrated with black and white drawings.

It has a little white circle on ther cover -- where it could be stamped with a price.  That gives it a vintage feel.

Check list and keys of the fishes of Wyoming
by James R Simon. 1939
University of Wyoming, Committee on Research (1939), Publications in Science VI(4): 47-62, fig.

It’s hard to imagine the challenges of working with a fish fauna in a relatively poorly explored region before the appearance of works such as these early check lists and keys.  Identifications would be made using scattered literature, or by using Jordan and Evermann’s four volume work on all North American fishes, would was quickly becoming out-dated as an identification guide.  This small work gives us a check list and key to the fishes known from Wyoming. and must have been a welcome tool by students and conservation workers.  This work, as many from this period from western states, credits Carl L. Hubbs for assistance in identifications.  Carl and just a little later his son-in-law Robert Rush Miller were very busy ichthyologists in this period / region.

Yellowstone fishes
by James R. Simon.  1939
Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.. 1939. 39 pp. illus., plates (2 col.). Map of park on end leaves.

This is a guide to the native and introduced species known from Yellowstone Park.  The present author directs readers towards Smith and Kendall’s 1921 work on Yellowstone fishes for details on the waters of the park.  The present work contains identification keys and species accounts for all fishes known from within the park.  There are two color plates of paintings of salmonids, and the remainder are illustrated in black and white (what appear to me to be retouched photographs). Species accounts are basic – with an eye towards informing the angler and amateur naturalist.  An indication of the era and mind set comes in the introduction, in which waters once without game fishes are called “barren.”

The 1939 edition is hard cover in cloth covered boards (I don’t know if it was issued with a dust jacket – mine does not have one), and is printed in heavy, quality paper.
I have 2nd edition from 1953; my copy is paper bound (I don’t know if there was a hard cover version).  I find few differences between the two: the type setting is not identical, but close; some decorative details are different; some fishing regulations are updated; a mention of where to obtain Smith and Kendall’s work is omitted and opposite the title page is a little piece about enjoying the park.
A third edition was issued in 1962 (48 pp.).  It has an orange (not blue) cover and slightly smaller format, but otherwise largely the same as the other editions.









Wyoming Fishes
by James R. Simon.  1946
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Cheyenne. 1946. Bulletin No. 4, 129 pp., 92 figures. Issued softcover and hardcover, in green cloth covered boards

This is an early example of a state fish handbook and a nice one.  Introductory material covers history
of the exploration and management of Wyoming fishes, hydrology and geography.  A guide to fish identification follows (with keys), with the main section of the book devoted to individual species accounts of the native and introduced fishes of the state.

Species accounts include a black and white photograph of each fish, plus details on identification, distribution, angling interest and management.  A hydrographic map of Wyoming is found in the introduction, but the distributions of individual species are not mapped.

Typical of its era, this book pays much attention to angling and the utility of each species to "man."  Along these lines, the introduction divides fishes among categories such as "game fishes," "forage fishes" and "rough fishes."  Conservation and status of non-game fishes (a hallmark of fish books of the past 30-40 years) is not emphasized, although, to be fair, in the 1930's and 1940's, the fish faunas of western state were not nearly as battered as they are today.

Imagine how fun it must have been to explore this fauna in the 30s and 40s.

I have two copies of this book - one in illustrated stiff wrappers, the other in green cloth covered boards (I don’t know if the hard cover version was issued with a dust jacket – my copy does not have one.  My hard cover copy is inscribed to Harry Konkel by the author; my soft cover copy is from the library of Charles H. Meacham, Commissioner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Sevice.
Interesting fact - in 1883, 7000 carp (Cyprinus carpio) were introduced to the state's waters.

A revised 1951 edition adds a few new details on some species, and an additional species, Margariscus nachtriebi, as Margariscus margarita nachtriebi.

Regional Guides, Revisions and Surveys



Great Lakes Region



Fish of Lake Michigan
by Warren Downs.  1974 (1984 printing)
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program, 1974. 30 pp., illus.  Soft cover

Fish of Lake Superior
by Warren Downs.  1976 (1984 printing)
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program, 1976. 32 pp.,  illus. Soft cover

This pair of small booklets is aimed mainly at the angler, interested citizen or amateur naturalist.  Each covers the larger species found in the lake – largely those of potential commercial or angling interest.  Species accounts are basic, with details on biology, catch and angling; each is illustrated with a basic black and white drawing.  Front matter covers the history and fishery of each lake.  I imagine these books are to be found in a bait shop or where-ever conservation or management workers are meeting with the public.

The titles (of course) should properly read “Fishes” instead of “Fish.”

A Check-List of the Fishes of the Fishes of the Great Lakes and Tributary Water, with Nomenclatorial Notes and Analytical Keys

by Carl L. Hubbs

University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Miscellaneous Publication No. 15, 77 pp., 4 pls. 1926 (July). Paper wrappers.

The title pretty much covers the topic of this report. It’s Hubbs’ first take on the Great Lakes fauna, an effort that would eventually result in Hubbs and Lagler’s Fishes of the Great Lakes Region (1947). A short introduction is followed by the main body – check-list and keys. Comments on some species are lengthy, others are quite brief.

 

 

Guide to the Fishes of the Great Lakes and Tributary Waters
By Carl L. Hubbs and Karl F. Lagler.  1941
Cranbrook Institute of Science (Bloomfield Hills, MI) Bull. No. 18 (Aug. 1941), 100 pp., 118 figures. 15.5 x 23.5 cm. Hardcover, no dust jacket (at least that I've ever seen); also issued soft bound

This work by Hubbs and Lagler precedes by several years their seminal Fishes of the Great Lakes Region. The goal of this book was not a revision of the fauna, but rather a guide that both amateur and zoologist could use to identify fishes of the region.
An regional introduction and guide to fish identification are followed by the species accounts, which are quite brief. Identification keys and a photograph of each species are included; there are no distribution maps.
This is an early regional fish guide for the U.S., and would have been an important and useful tool for zoologists, conservation workers, resource managers of the region in question. Until these regional and state guides started to appear, literature on North American fish faunas was scattered or non-existant. Many workers were almost certainly using Jordan and Evermann's Fishes of North and Middle America - an extremely important work, but by 1941 it was over 40 years old.
My soft cover copy is from the library of Phillip W. Smith, Illinois Ichthyologist, and author of Fishes of Illinois (1979).

 

Fishes tails - trout? salmon? Key to identification of trout and salmon of the Great Lakes

by Jeffrey Gunderson. No date

University of Minnesota, Minnesota Sea Grant Extension, 1 page pamphlet on stiff paper

Using tails (or as we say in the ichthyology business, caudal fins), this pamphlet allows one to correctly identify native and non-native trout and salmon of the Great Lakes. It’s flow chart type key, with no Latin names.

Fishes of Isle Royale
by Karl Frank Lagler and C. R. Goldman.  1982
Isle Royale Natural History Association, 1982. v, 58 pp., illus, map, Revised 2d edition, soft cover

Isle Royale is more famous for its wolf studies than its ichthyology.  This is a guide to the fishes found on or in the waters around the Island – 52 species are tallied.  The guide opens with historical and ecological accounts of the park, and a section on angling, which is pretty heavy on the salmonids.  A pictorial identification key is provided with a checklist of species, with family accounts, but not detailed species accounts.  Lots of information of interest to the thoughtful angler.
The first edition is dated 1959; it was reprinted in 1964.  I don’t have a copy of this for comparison.

Guide to Great Lakes Fishes
by Gerald Ray Smith.  2010
University of Michigan Press/Regional (2010), Paperback, 136 pages
ISBN 0472033751

This is a beautifully illustrated guide to common fishes of the Great Lakes Region.  Excellent color paintings of fishes are by Emily S. Damstra; these are supplemented by numerous color photographs.  A small, compact guide (not a detailed or exhaustive revision), this is aimed at the angler or weekend natural historian.  It was written by Jerry Smith, a skilled systematic and general ichthyologist.  An oblong book, it will sit open in one’s hand on a boat, at a stream-side on in a lab.  Smith as also offered an updated version of the class Hubbs and Lagler tome Fishes of the Great Lakes Region.

Mississippi Basin




The fishes of Kentucky and Tennessee
by Barton Warren Evermann.  1918
Bull. of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries for 1915-16(1918), XXV: 295-368 pp. tables, not illus.

For anyone engaged in taxonomy, the history of the science and the science itself are inseparably bound.  As I revisit Evermann’s work, I’m finding more and more to appreciate.  Evermann had a great appreciation for fishes, but also for the science of ichthyology and its history.  It shows in reports such as this.  He states the genesis of this report started simply enough; he was sorting and identifying some collections of fishes from east Tennessee.  This effort required examination of existing specimens and literature from the region, but also beyond.  Any good project has the capacity to grow - if one does it correctly – and this one grew to the point to which Evermann decided to formalize his notes into this report – an overview of the ichthyology of the Cumberland and Tennessee river basins (mostly), but also associated streams and drainages, such as the Ohio.  Evermann opens with an historic overview starting with an affectionate discussion of the eccentric Rafinesque, and ending with the work of David Starr Jordan (and his associates).  A hydrographic survey is given and then a DETAILED annotated bibliography.  Every work (back to Rafinesque) that touched upon these fishes is cited and its ichthyological contents abstracted in table form.  An annotated list of the 170 species that he found reference to inhabiting the region is given.

Report upon the fishes of the Missouri River basin
by Barton Warren Evermann and Ulysses O. Cox.  1896
Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1894 (issued Nov. 27, 1896): 525-429, not illus.

The impetus for this report was a survey to find a good location for a federal fish hatchery someplace in the Missouri River basin.  Extensive collections and surveys of habitats within the basin were made in 1892 and 1893, but the reporting given goes far beyond just those collections.  The authors open with a discussion of their collections and a detailed accounting of the streams in the watershed.  Then is what is essentially an annotated bibliography of previous ichthyological explorations of the region...starting with comments on fishes and habitats encountered by Lewis and Clark (including extracts from their journals).  An annotated listing of species known from the basin is offered (with keys to species offered for some groups).  One hundred and forty three species are covered, with comments in their identity, taxonomy, distribution and suitability for human usage.
My copy bears the signature and rubber stamp (twice) of George S. Myers.

South East

Fishes of the Middle Savannah River Basin with emphasis on the Savannah River Site

by Barton C. Marcy, Dean E. Fletcher, F. Douglas Martin, Michael H. Paller and Marcel J. M. Reichert. Photography by David E. Scott. University of Georgia Press, 480 pp., illus. Hardcover; pictoral boards, no dj (?).
ISBN 082032535X.

The coverage of this book is well described by the title. Just under 100 species of native and non-native fishes are detailed. Each species account includes color photograph of the fish, a detailed spot map of collection sits and details such as description, distribution, habitat and biology.

Many fish guides to North American faunas are delineated by political boundarys (such state lines, e.g., Fishes of New Mexico or Fishes of Arkansas). Drainage basins and fish distributions rarely conform perfectly to political borders. This volume is delinated by natural biogeographic features, in this case a drainage basin. Thus, the entire fauna of a naturally defined area is covered in one volume and in a consistent fashion. Certainly a logial and useful approach, but one seldomly seen.

The presentation and layout of this book are attractive, while still logical and functional. The distribution maps are large and detailed. The color illustrations of fishes mostly portray them in their natural hiabitat. I like these … they don’t necessarily show all the diagnostic traits of the speices, but do a nice job of portraying the fishes as components of a natural system – rather than disconnected specimens. Front matter contains details of habitat, hydrology and ecology, as well as a useful guide to the process of fish idenfification and dichotomous keys.

Fisherman's Guide: Fishes of the Southeastern United States
by Charles S. Manooch, III; illustrated by Duane Raver, Jr.  1984
Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, xiv + 362 pp., : illus in black and white and color.  Cloth covered boards in dust jacket.
ISBN 0-917134-07-9

This is an attractive book marketed towards anglers and arm chair naturalists, I would imagine.  Marine and freshwater species are covered and they are sorted by habitat (cool water, warm water, anadromous).  Each of the about 150 species accounts spreads across facing pages.  The fish is illustrated with a color painting and a shaded area range map shows the distribution.  The text details the basic biology, along with tips for the angler and preparation suggestions (even for the lamprey).  A nice touch in each species account are call outs (suggested readings) to bibliography.  Appendices give recipes and angling records.