On the bookshelf

09mei2013
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011
Fishes: The Animal Answer Guide

Our planet is home to approximately 30,000 fish species. Almost anywhere there is water, there are fish. The variation in size is enormous: from gobies of no more than a centimetre in length to sunfish that weigh more than 2000 kg and reach a height (fins included) of more than 4 metres.
In more than 100 common and less obvious questions, readers are given a good look at the world of fishes. The authors, fish experts, explain facts such as the evolution of bony fishes, the relationship between fishes and sharks, and the reason for the huge variation in colour among fish species. The book covers very unusual fish, such as the Devils hole pupfish that occurs only in a very limited area, and the candiru, a freshwater fish that resembles an eel, lives in the Amazon, and can enter the body cavities of swimmers—and then require surgical removal.

The plentiful facts presented in this book are complemented with more than a hundred photographs, making this little volume a good catch for fans of nature, fishing and aquaria.

Fishes: The Animal Answer Guide
Gene Helfman, Bruce Collette
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011
ISBN-10: 1421402238
ISBN-13: 978-1421402239