Coral Reef Fishes

Rating:
Summary: Most useful book I ever bought!
Review: I am an avid scuba diver and recreational fisherman. This book is a tremendously useful book for identification of ocean fish. The book not only has detailed colored drawings of fish, but also includes a description, habitat, feeding habits, and possible dangers. I highly recommend this book to any diving or fishing enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: Small enough to be portable yet complete enough to be useful
Review: I have used several books in identifying fishes at the Aquarium of the Pacific and this is by far the most useful one because it contains detailed color drawings which highlight the distinguishing features for each fish and diagnostic characteristics for the family allowing for easy identification.

Rating:
Summary: drawings instead of photos limit its usefulness
Review: I took this book with me on a recent dive trip to Fiji and found it of very limited use for fish identification. The book has no photographs, only drawings (or paintings), and the resolution and accuracy of the images is much too poor to distinguish similar species. I was unable to identify the particular species of anemonefish, lionfish, or scorpion fish that I encountered from the pictures in this book. I also found that including both the South Pacific and the Caribbean in one volume is more of a disadvantage than otherwise, since it is unlikely one would cover both regions in the same trip. It's a little like writing a guide book on New York and Tokyo--it makes the book look more comprehensive, but doesn't add much value. I would recommend almost any book with photographs over this one.

Rating:
Summary: drawings instead of photos limit its usefulness
Review: I took this book with me on a recent dive trip to Fiji and found it of very limited use for fish identification. The book has no photographs, only drawings (or paintings), and the resolution and accuracy of the images is much too poor to distinguish similar species. I was unable to identify the particular species of anemonefish, lionfish, or scorpion fish that I encountered from the pictures in this book. I also found that including both the South Pacific and the Caribbean in one volume is more of a disadvantage than otherwise, since it is unlikely one would cover both regions in the same trip. It's a little like writing a guide book on New York and Tokyo--it makes the book look more comprehensive, but doesn't add much value. I would recommend almost any book with photographs over this one.

Rating:
Summary: Illustration Only
Review: Its a great book for an entire collection, but hard to identify real species from the book. It is a list of all the species with fair illustrations and short description of each. Not what I expected. Probably good for Marine Bio.

Rating:
Summary: compact and comprehensive - a fish book for travelers
Review: Robert F. Myers is a noted authority on reef fishes and author of the widely acclaimed book Micronesian Reef Fishes. Unlike that large, detailed and excellent volume, however, this book has small, color drawings instead of photographs. This allows the color plates to depict many similar-looking fishes on a single page, just as bird ID books do. Key markings on the fish are indicated unobtrusively with lines. The page opposite contains ID notes that correspond to the drawings. I think the drawings are adequate for most identification purposes and I find the "many fishes on one page" scheme helpful, although some other readers obviously disagree. But what makes this book a winner is that it combines comprehensiveness with small size. It describes an amazing 2000 species, all in a small, lightweight, easily carried, easily packed paperback. In short, it's perfect for taking along on a dive trip. The big, detailed fish books are great, of course, but too heavy to travel with. Use this book in the field, then look up further information in the big books when you get back home.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good,but not the best
Review: This book covers more species than any other in my collection of good fish books,about 30 ones!That`s why I'll give it three stars. The illustrations are beautifull but if you wish to identify real fishes,this isn`t right book for you. It covers both Indo-Pacific and Caribbean and it describes 2000 species and about 1500 are from Indo-Pacific. That`s what good with it. It is also enjoyable to read,as you can learn a lot but I would appreciate a photo book about the area better,because then the fish looks like as you see it in the natural habitat. But if you like to draw coral reef fishes,I can recommend you to look at the pictures of this book. Real photographs are sometimes too detailed. And I think the sharks section should be bigger. There are about 400 species of sharks,and only 3 color plates are about sharks with a total number of may be 40 species!That`s not enough. But the angelfish chapters are absoulutley detailed. But if you wish to have a really good book,I would recommend "Reef Fish Identification" for the Caribbean and "South East Asia Tropical Fish Guide" for the Pacific.