Reef Fish Identification - Tropical Pacific (Paperback)

by Gerald Allen (Author), Roger Steene (Author), Paul Humann (Author), Ned DeLoach (Author) "Trying to identify a specific fish from the more than 2,000 tropical Pacific species included in this book can be a perplexing task..." (more)
Key Phrases: sheltered coastal reefs, steep outer reef slopes, upper tail base, Asian Pacific, French Polynesia, Red Sea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Finally, a comprehensive fish identification guide covering the fish-rich reefs of the Pacific. It contains 2,500 underwater photographs of 2,000 species from four of the best marine life authors/photographers in the business. Their collaboration makes it possible for underwater naturalists to identify fishes from Thailand to Tahiti with a single, compact, easy-to-use, no-nonsense reference. 108 fish families are presented in one of 20 Identification groups based on a family's related visual or behavioural characteristics, such as Large Oval / Colourful or Sand/Burrow Dwellers. Likewise, every effort has been made to group similar appearing species together.

Product Details

• Paperback: 457 pages
• Publisher: New World Publications; illustrated edition edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878348361
• ISBN-13: 978-1878348364
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious work, October 9, 2007

By	Scubagirl - See all my reviews

This is a very ambitious work - the number of Indo-Pacific fish species illustrated is simply staggering, often showing regional variations and juvenile forms. On the other side, image quality and reproduction are often disappointing, and the minimal texts limit its scope somewhat. It will make an unbeatable identification and learning combo when paired with the equally interesting but infinitely better illustrated A Diver's Guide to Reef Life and A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari - both featuring excellent written texts, exquisite color photographs and - in the case of the latter - hundreds of entries for cephalopods, crustaceans, nudibranchs and various other invertebrates. With these three field guides in your library almost no Indo-Pacific fish or critter will be able to escape identification!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best out there!, July 10, 2006

By	Mr. Stuart N. Gow "StuartinFiji" (Lami, Suva, Fiji) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book revolutionised fish ID in the tropical South Pacific when it first came out. We live and work in Fiji in the marine environment and have 4 of these on our shelf (for use of staff in the field as well as office)

The only drawback we find is the bizarre choice of common names. There are already a plethora of other books out there with common names fairly well established in Fiji by Lieske&Meyers. Seems to follow more of an Australian theme for these than the prevous Paul Humman books which use the American common names.

But overal a MUST for any diver who visits the Tropical Pacific. If you use it in conjunction with Lieske&Meyers then if you don;t find the fish you're looking at, prepare to be published!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reef guide for the Asian Pacific region., August 1, 2006

By	hupo "nereus" (Taiwan) - See all my reviews

This is an outstanding fish ID manual for the Pacific and Indian ocean region. It beats out others books of a similar nature with the number of photos (6 on every page for a total of over 2,500 pics) and the helpful identification notes below each pic along with the average size of the fish, localised habitat(if any)and pictures of the juvenile fish alongside the adult as well distinguishing feature between male and female forms and arrows pointing to distinguishing marks between similar fish of the same species. Fish are easily found from a photo you took or memory, as it places them into 20 identification groups according to body shape. The pictures are not quite the same quality as The Asia Pacific Reef Guide by Helmut Debelius but they are good enough. Unlike most books of this type it is fish specific so does not include any pics of molluscs, crustaceans, cephalopods, nudibranches, corals or other denizens of the ocean. You have to go to his Reef Creatures ID book for that in the excellent 3 volume Reef Set. Great book, highly recommended.