Nature Guide To Reef Fish?

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terrydarc

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Anybody know the title of a decent guide to reef wildlife - fish, coral, inverts. Not some huge heavy, tome, but a nice light guide like Peterson's for birds?
Terry
 
Terry,

A standard works that many divers use are the books by Paul Humann. He has books on the Caribbean for fish, creatures (invertebrates) and coral. They are somewhat in the "tome" category because they comprise around 500 pages. Hey, there are a lot of fish out there. He also has some smaller, waterproof pamplets that are very limited in species and info.

He has one small book on the Indo-Pacific area, too. For Hawaii and some of the Indo-Pacific, there are two books I like: Ann Fielding's and Ed Robinson's "An Underwater Guide to Hawai'i and Casey Mananey's "Hawaiin Reef Fish". These books are definitely NOT in the "tome" category!

I have other books in my scuba library, but these are my first cut recommendations.

For the sea shells of Hawaii, try Mike Severns' "Hawaiin Seashells", a nice book by one of the legends of diving.

If you would like more recommendations, let me know.

Scorpionfish, pp. 302-307 of Humann's "Reef Fish Identfication"
 
:doctor: Paul Humann's set is by far the most comprehensive guide to fish, corals and invertebrates in the Caribbean (especially the latest editions) however, they are not always very practical for travelling with!

For a more travel friendly but extremely informative book try:
Reef Fishes, Corals and Invertebrates of the Caribbean by Elizabeth and Lawson Wood.
Published by New Holland Publishers Ltd.

It covers all the major fish groups though obviously does not have the space for 100 different types of gobies and blennies. I'm not familiar with Peterson's but I have a feeling this is the kind of guide you are looking for.

Hope this helps.
 
Consists of 3 volumes. Each volume meaures about 9 inches by 7 inches, with thicknesses from about 1/2 inch to 1 inch. Thickness of the total set is less than 2 1/2 inches.

Best regards.

DocVikingo
 
I too have to add my enthusiastic vote to Paul Humann (and Ned DeLoache's) books. They now have a 3rd edition of their celebrated Caribbean Reef Series (Fish, Creatures, and Corals). These are also available in CD, so if you travel with your laptop, you can save yourself some space/weight by taking the CDs along with you PC.

BTW, there is now a West Coast book, which also looks awesome.

This week I had the pleasure of talking with both Ned & Paul at DEMA. They indicated their current project is an Indo-Pacific book.

Unfortunately, no begging or cajoling could convince them to put a Red Sea book on their list of "upcoming attractions", as they have their plates pretty full with the aforementioned project.

PITY! :(

Anyways, get the Humann book(s)... you'll never regret it!

~SubMariner~
 
terrydarc once bubbled...
Anybody know the title of a decent guide to reef wildlife - fish, coral, inverts. Not some huge heavy, tome, but a nice light guide like Peterson's for birds?
Terry

How about a great video. Check out http://www.delfin-uw.com
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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