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National Audubon Society Field Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes: Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Bahamas, Bermuda | 
 enlarge | Author: National Audubon Society
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $14.95 (75%)
New (31) Used (23) Collectible (2) from $5.00
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 79974
Media: Turtleback
Edition: 1
Pages: 720
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 3.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 067944601X
Dewey Decimal Number: 597.17736
EAN: 9780679446019
ASIN: 067944601X
Publication Date: September 16, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, best prices.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Covering tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, this field guide by C. Lavett Smith (curator emeritus, Department of Ichthyology, American Museum of Natural History in New York) sets the tropical-fish standard. There are 417 truly magnificent color photographs evincing the glories of the coral reefs and full-text descriptions for more than 400 species, each with its own range map. In addition, the guide includes maps of the regions, more than 100 fish anatomy illustrations, and close to 800 more brief species descriptions. Easy to use and understand, lightweight, and sturdily constructed for travel, the field guide is a great boon for one's snorkeling or scuba-diving vacations. --Stephanie Gold
Product Description
The most comprehensive field guide available to the tropical fishes of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. All 417 photographs are in full color, capturing the natural beauty of the fishes on coral reefs and other habitats of tropical marine waters. The species photographs are keyed to full text descriptions of more than 400 species, each with its own range map. The text also includes brief coverage of nearly 800 additional species. Detailed endpaper maps, precise black-and-white drawings, and an illustrated family key supplement this authoritative and visually stunning resource.
The National Audubon Society Field Guides group species according to taxonomy and shape. Helpful thumb-tab silhouette keys make identification quick and easy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Good for general info March 18, 2008
Stephanie Jackson (Fond du Lac, WI, USA)
I bought this book for my husband to prevent him from telling me about "that yellow fish" he saw when we were diving. It is good because it has a lot of variety of different types of fish, but it is by no ways all encompassing reference. It has only a few varieties of each type of fish (ie only a few angel fish shown, not all of the types). So, it is good, but not exactly what I was looking for.
 Getting the most your tropical Holiday! October 24, 2007
Richard T. Wagaman (Charlottesville, VA)
I bought this book as birthday gift for my son-in-law. I looked through the guide before I sent it to him. My impression was very positive, but no where near the rave reviews that Steve had for it. This guide to tropical fish should be a must for anyone taking a tropical vacation.
Dick
The Best, As Always May 13, 2007
Linda E. Kazakis (South Carolina)
The Audubon Field Guides are the best there are. Every category of book is well documented and the glossy photos are fabulous. I buy these books for my 11 year old son. He enjoys reading them so much that I count his time spent as credit for our homeschool science course.
disappointing March 20, 2006
beach wench (Lehighton, PA United States)
Although there are many fishes accounted for, it has quite a few that are missing, and it would be helpful if more showed pictures of the difference between adult and juveniles.
 OK, But Paul Humann's Book is Much Better January 20, 2005
Kathryn L. Evans (Caroga Lake, New York United States)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
A few years ago, I bought the Audubon Society Field Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes and found when I tried to use it in the Florida Keys that there were many fish I couldn't identify. People recommended I buy Paul Humann's book, "Reef Fish Identification." The book is more expensive, but I found it to be far more comprehensive and user friendly. For example, many fish look entirely different when in their "juvenile," "initial" or "terminal" phase, and the "Reef Fish Identification" book has clear photos of each of the three stages shown beside each other, and frequently includes photos of alternate color phases as well. The Audubon book usually just shows a picture of the fish in just one phase, and often not a terribly good photo at that. Next to each photo in the Humann book is an excellent line drawing of the fish, highlighting and labeling which features of a fish are most dependable for identification. The Audubon book includes no such diagrams to aid identification. Finally, the Humann book is based upon both an extensive bibliography and collaboration with field biologists, and if the detailed descriptions in his book of definitive features for discriminating species of fish are correct (and experienced scuba divers tell me they are correct) then some of the pictures in the Audubon guide are actually even misidentified as to species. For example, the Audubon picture labeled as a "Leopard Goby" is almost certainly a picture of an "Orange-sided Goby" (if the Humann book is correct about dark lines outlining the orange rectangles being a reliable discriminating feature). If there were no other reef fish identification book available, I would have given the Audubon book more stars, I am usually a great fan of the Audubon Field Guide series, but in comparison with the Humann book it just doesn't rate very well. I should add that I have never met, nor have any private or professional association with, the author of either of these books, so my opinion is not biased by any such affiliation.
Finally, I should add that I am pleased nevertheless to own both of these books because, for many species of fish, fish of the same species can be found in a wide variety of colors and patterns, so you can never study too many photos to get a handle on the range of appearances possible for any given species. Buy the Humann book if you can just afford one book, but owning both books is even better!
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