Customer Reviews

National Audubon Society Field Guide to Fishes, Whales and Dolphins

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Being a fishing charter captian out of Boston Ma. and a fishing enthusist of fresh and saltwater... Info provided in detail on every fish in North America....This book is a must for all fish lovers!

Why not add frogs, snakes and other reptiles? Again the Audubon Society tries to market one guidebook to all of Canada and the US. For comparison Audubon's close competitor in the layperson field guide business uses three guides to cover the same area. Peterson's field guides has one for the Pacific coast, one for the Atlantic and one for freshwater. That's not even including the mammals! This guide is so broad as to be useless to the person looking at anything but the most common and conspicuous fishes. The photographs are often dark and useless, showing only the adult stages of several fishes which makes it difficult to determine what species you might have. The only plus I can give it as that it arranges fish by shape or other distinctive characteristics, this might be useful to the person unfamiliar with fish families. I made the mistake of getting it as my first field guide to fishes. From experience let me say this, get yourself a Peterson's to your local area. The color plates might be harder to learn to use, but they show a lot more.

I'm a marine biologist wanna-be. Living in the midwest, I have no ocean to enjoy. This book helps fill that void. It is full of great pictures and information. Take my advice, get this book and impress your friends with the wealth of knowledge you are bound to learn from it.

You can't beat Audubon Field Guides. Some come close but these have always been my favorite. Because I am obviously and completely biased (!) I will just say that you can't go wrong with these books and I think everyone should have the entire collection of them. I do!

Another excellent Audubon guide focusing solely on the ocean. Since I am landlocked in the desert, this book assists me in remembering the saltwater sea and its inhabitants. The scope is not too wide at all, it covers the creatures that reside in the sea, including: mammals, fish, dolphins, Eels, and other fantastic creatures. This is the best of the three Audubon guides that cover the ocean. The reason for this is the coverage of freshwater and marine species. The photographs of these are also beautiful, showing enough of the animal for quick identification. None are dark and useless! To top it all off, the number of species listed in all categories is very impressive, coming off at 600++ entries. If you already love the ocean and its creatures, this field guide will further intrigue you!

I've been obsessed with fish for as long as I can remember. I have an entire shelf on my bookcase devoted to fish books, and this is by far the best book on that shelf. It has hundreds of pictures of every importent species in North America as well as Information on most every species. This is the definative guide on the market