Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas by Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas
Book Review: When you want to know what you've been watching (or what was watching you)!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a reef fish identification book. This sounds obvious, but that really is the focus here. It's not a book to teach you about fish behavior, biogeography, community ecology, or population trends. Author, diver, captain, photographer, and attorney (!) Paul Humann took most of the 670 photographs in this book, a real accomplishment for any diver, since the result of a blurred or indistinct photograph of a fish is to... go get another.
The organization of this ID book is by fish shape. He's got 12 "identification groups":
- disks and ovals (colorful)
- silvery
- sloping head and tapered body
- small ovals
- heavy body and large lips
- swim with pectoral fins, and with obvious scales
- reddish and big eyes
- small, elongated bottom-dwellers
- old-shaped bottom dwellers
- odd-shaped swimmers
- eels
- sharks and rays
Any fish watcher would see the "logic" of this organization, although it could make some ichthyologists squirm with these sets of artificial groupings.
The book is spiral-bound so that the pages, when opened, stay open. And the clay content in the paper makes it more resistant to water dripping from your wetsuit or your hair. Just make sure you wipe it off, pronto.
Now the photos... They are very high quality, and Humann is to be commended for taking, or selecting from other photographers, pictures that really pull out the details of the various fish . For example, the Sergeant Major has the delicate yellow along the base of its dorsal fin, and those frogfish must be viewed in both a camouflaged condition and in a setting where they are contrasted with the background.
Any amateur photographer will soon discover the difficulty in getting a full, close-up and lateral view of a fish. They tend to swim away from you as you get close, giving you a great view of the tail sweeping away. These photos are the result of a truly amazing amount of patience.
In an appendix, he throws in some sea turtles and dolphins or good measure, as well as a checklist for keeping track of the reader's sightings.
My ocean diving has all been in the Pacific, and it was interesting seeing species related to my own "friends." If I get the opportunity to dive in Florida, the Caribbean, or the Bahamas, this will be the book I throw in my dive bag... in a zip-lock bag, of course.
Book Review: Impressive book.
Summary: 5 Stars
As book reader and Diver, I just love this book, It gives me all the pictures and characteristics for an accurate evaluation of the creatures I found under water. Great pictures, and outstanding charcterization of fishes.Book Review: Fish ID "Bible"
Summary: 5 Stars
At one time I was the head of a volunteer organization in WPB, Florida that assisted Palm Beach County with their artifical reef program. Part of the qualification was to get training in a variety of related subjects (like fish identification) sponsored by the Florida Oceanographic Society. This book served as our fish identification "bible." I no longer live in FL, but when I go diving in the Caribbean I stil take this book with me. If you need to (or just want to) know the fish of the Caribbean, buy this book.Book Review: Caribbean Fish
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fabulous resource, and I wish we had bought it before to take with us on our trip to BVIBook Review: Wonderful guide!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this item for my trip to the Caribbean. I'm a marine biologist by training, and I loved this book because it gave information above and beyond just identification. It also tells you how likely it was that the fish you saw was the one pictured in the book. Then there are lists of all the species in the back, with space for you to record when and where you saw it. I had so much fun combing this book after snorkeling to identify all the organisms I had seen! What a great investment!