Australian fish books
from Australian-Wildlife.com
Australia
has been blessed with wonderful, unique and iconic wildlife. This site is
dedicated to promoting its enjoyment and preservation.
| Books about Australian Fish |
| 1. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia - A comprehensive guide for divers and fishermen. Rudie Kuiter This is a good book. The photos of each species are uniformly good, the coverage is complete, there is an introduction to each family of fish covered and there is a guide to photographing fish. It's neither too big nor too heavy and is probably all you will ever need for identifying those fish that you've just photographed. I would have liked a more comprehensive introduction but I don't suppose that will bother many others, and beyond that there's not a lot bad to say about this book. Photos seem to work perfectly well for fish identification and the fact that this is the only comprehensive field guide that I've been able to find should be enough to convince most that this is worth a look. 8/10 |
 |
| 2. Field Guide to Australian Sharks and Rays Daley, Stevens This book covers the most commonly seen species in Australian waters. It's not one that I like much but since I've only seen one alternative I've included it here. It seems to have been written mainly for commercial fishermen and so the introduction has information on conservation laws, bait traps, handling etc, none of which will be of interest to anyone looking for a field guide. However, there's still enough in this book for the wildlife enthusiast to make identifications so if sharks and rays are your thing then this might well be for you. The photos are okay, the descriptions likewise, the introduction poor from the perspective of a field guide, the size unnecessarily large and the lack of coverage a disappointment. That said, the distribution maps are useful and there's ample opportunity to learn a bit more about the subject. 7/10 |
| Size mm/in |
| 210x147x26 / 8.2x5.8x1 |
| Weight g/oz |
| 810/30 approx. |
| Photos/illustrations |
| Photos |
| Complete coverage |
| Yes |
| No.of pages |
| Paper |
| Paper/Hard |
| 434 |
| Scientific index |
| Yes |
| English index |
| Yes |
| Quality of intro info |
| 2/10 |
| Quality of photos/illustrations |
| 8/10 |
| Large scale coverage map |
| No |
| Distribution maps |
| Yes |
| Maps next to description |
| Glossary |
| Checklist |
| My rating 8/10 |
| Yes |
| No |
| No |
| Size mm/in |
| 247x171x6 / 9.7x6.7x0.3 |
| Weight g/oz |
| 270/10 approx. |
| Photos/illustrations |
| Photos |
| Complete coverage |
| No |
| No.of pages |
| Paper |
| Paper/Hard |
| 484 |
| Scientific index |
| Yes |
| English index |
| Yes |
| Quality of intro info |
| 3/10 |
| Quality of photos/illustrations |
| 4/10 |
| Large scale coverage map |
| No |
| Distribution maps |
| Yes |
| Maps next to description |
| Glossary |
| Checklist |
| My rating 8/10 |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| No |
|
| 3. Green Guide Australian Sharks and Rays Aitken If you've seen any my other reviews of the Green Guides you will know what's coming. These are compact, fun, informative, well put together, easy to read books that are probably mainly aimed at the younger market. Sections like "How hard can a shark bite?" tend to suggest (to me at least) that these books are not really aimed at adults. So whilst these books are definitely not field guides in the traditional sense, they still come highly recommended, just be aware of what they are all about. 8/10 |
| Size mm/in |
| 180x130x8 / 7.1x5.1x0.3 |
| Weight g/oz |
| 190./7 approx |
| Photos/illustrations |
| Photos |
| Complete coverage |
| No |
| No.of pages |
| Paper |
| Paper/Hard |
| 97 |
| Scientific index |
| No |
| English index |
| Yes |
| Quality of intro info |
| 7/10 |
| Quality of photos/illustrations |
| 8/10 |
| Large scale coverage map |
| No |
| Distribution maps |
| No |
| Maps next to description |
| Glossary |
| Checklist |
| My rating 8/10 |
| No |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Please click on the US or UK link if you wish to purchase this book from Amazon. |
| Please click on the US or UK link if you wish to purchase this book from Amazon. |
| Please click on the US or UK link if you wish to purchase this book from Amazon. |