fish and invertebrate identification guides?

[The Chairman]

Yeah, yeah... here I am concentrating on my student's trim and neutral buoyancy and SubMariner is looking at the fishies.

 

[Phaethon]

Here's a photogallery site for lots of fish

http://www.marinelifeimages.com/

What amazes me is how many of these fish have the same tatoo on their bodies... I think its some kind of gang culture thing?

K.

 

[SubMariner]

Yeah, yeah... here I am concentrating on my student's trim and neutral buoyancy and SubMariner is looking at the fishies.

Hey, you can do BOTH, y'know. Fishy watching is a great teaching aid for buoyancy control.

 

[mikedeco]

well.... the book Reef Fish Identification (Humann/DeLoach) covers the Caribbean,
and it's an excellent resource. but it's almost $40.00. not sure if worth it for just a
few dives. they have a number of books in that series, including corals, other reef
creatures, behavious, and Pacific fish.

here is their site: Fishid.com

Thank you for the response H2Andy. That does look like a great series of books. Would anyone else like to chime in any other books they would recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Mo2vation]

FYI, Humann now has a West Coast book out too.

Now I have a pulse. All this warm water fish ID nonsense puts me into a coma.

Very nice. Thanks -

K


PS: I just went back to check out the test... THEY CHANGE. Sneaky

 

[H2Andy]

lol the Pacific book only covers tropical species, i am pretty sure

 

[SubMariner]

PS: I just went back to check out the test... THEY CHANGE. Sneaky

If by that you mean that there are juveniles, intermediates, adults and supermales in some species... yes.

And some even change colour.

Yup. Durned sneaky those fish!

 

[John H. Moore]

For the Pacific Coast:
- Coastal Fish Identification, California to Alaska, by Paul Humann
- Guide to Marine Invertebrates, Alaska to Baja California, by Daniel W. Gotshall
- Pacific Coast Nudibranchs, by David W. Behrens (2nd Edition)
- Pacific Coast Pelagic Invertebrates, A Guide to the Common Gelatinous Animals, by David Wrobel & Claudia Mills
- Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps, by Gregory C. Jensen

There are others, but that'll get you started. For beginners, go with the Humann book and the basic invert book by Gotschall. Then expand to the more detailed specific invert books.

Online, check out http://divebums.com/FishID/ -- yes, it says FishID but it's really fish, inverts, algae, etc. It's aimed at SoCal, so some of your stuff will be different... but some will be the same...

John