Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean [Paperback]

Ewald Lieske (Author), Robert Myers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Princeton Pocket Guides | Publication Date: December 26, 2001

Expanded and updated to include an additional 44 species, this is a handy guide to those fishes that are likely to be observed by anybody visiting or diving on the coral reefs of the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific to a depth of sixty meters. Accessible to amateur marine life enthusiasts, this book is the first comprehensive guide of its kind. It enables the reader to quickly identify 2,118 species of fish and includes over 2,500 color illustrations depicting the major forms of each species--male, female, immature, or geographical varieties. The text proceeds according to region, depicting each species and its varieties, and offering information on its geographic range and where on the coral reef itself the fish may be found. Important identification characteristics are highlighted on every color plate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Skin divers, here is the capital 'D' Definitive guide to all the fishes you're ever apt to see on reefs down to 60 meters. -- John Balzar, Los Angeles Times



An excellent field guide to coral reef fishes anywhere in the world.... [It] fills a niche for amateur and professional visitors to reefs, combining in one compact volume what has previously required several, usually expensive, works. -- Naturalist



Scuba divers, naturalists, and anyone fascinated with the wonder of coral reef fishes will welcome this book with great enthusiasm. -- Wildlife Activist



An excellent and handy reference source and would be an asset to any diver's library. -- Doug Pemberton, Diver Magazine

From the Back Cover

"I have used this book for identifying fishes I have seen underwater. It is one of the best for this purpose since it is handy and comprehensive, containing all likely coral reef fishes in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. Most other books contain only a subset. In addition, this guide provides clues for quick and proper identification."--Rainer Froese, Senior Scientist, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), Philippines

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Revised edition (December 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691089957
• ISBN-13: 978-0691089959
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Fish & Sharks

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE field guide to bring on a scuba trip, October 18, 2005

By 

Klaus Stiefel (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean (Paperback)

An amazingly well done flied guide useful for even advanced fish enthusiasts and scuba divers. I have used this book on dive trips to the Egyptian red sea, the sea of Cortez in Mexico and to Cuba, as well as while walking trough several aquariums in the US, and I have hardly ever failed to find a tropical fish species I observed in this book. The illustrations are well done and include juveniles, sex differences and regional color variants. In addition to the geographic range of a species, the likely occurrence on the reef (lagoon, outward reef, sand ...), the depth ranges and information about fish behavior are indicated. I have found this additional information extremely useful, especially when trying to identify one of several similar species.

The book is divided into a Indopacific and a Carribean part, and in addition to the species descriptions there is a short general introduction to corral reefs and fish biology.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a little treasure, January 5, 2003

By 

Cristian Magnani (Cesenatico, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean (Paperback)

this one is a real must. if I had to choose a single fish ID book to bring along in a dive trip, this handy book would be the one. it is probably more usefull for indo-pacific fishes but also atlantic/caribbean fishes part is pretty good. i guess it is the most complete book on fish identification i ever bought.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Illustrations different from reality, September 28, 2009

By 

Boscain Pier Giorgio (Italy) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean (Paperback)

This guide has the merit to include a really big number of reef fishes species, but I discovered that many fishes have different colors in the field, often too much different than in the illustrations of the book ... The guide can be valid when you can take pictures in water and then, calmly at home, you can looking for features highlighted in the book, often little evident in field.