Customer Reviews

Collins Pocket Guide: Coral Reef Fishes (Collins Pocket Guides Series)

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You'll appreciate this guide whether you're a curious amateur or serious naturalist.

It's got one of the most exhaustive coverages of each of the families of fish. Sure it misses out one or two species for some families, but it's hard to have a complete guide to the reef - it's too diverse.

It has one of the most complete guides to cartilaginous fish, pipefish, butterfly fish, groupers, damsels and wrasses, as far as I am aware, but it certainly has the most complete guide to gobies.

Colours for some species may be a little bit inaccurate, but then again, everything looks different in or out of water, and varies with visibility and health. It's not that big an issue.

Something else that's handy: pointers on the slate that highlight distinctive markings.

A good buy. You'd want to waterproof this.

I own 3 copies of the book (two of the second edition, one of the first) because I would fear the day that they would stop printing it. As an avid diver, research scientist, and conservation biologist, I am frequently diving around the world such as in Belize, Honduras, Panama, St. Lucia, Madagascar, Egypt, Sulawesi, Maldives, among other sites. I have never found a better or more accurate field guide as the ones that they have prepared that is useful in all of these sites, and provides such stunning and accurate illustrations that allow for easy identifications of very similar species. I strongly recommend buying this book!