A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes: North America

I own many field guides. Many. Of them all, the Peterson Guides are usually not my favorites. Yes, they are the original field guides, and you have to salute any of the Peterson Guides for being breakthrough books, but I don't usually like the format of flipping around to find information. But this is THE best book for Pacific Coast fishes. I'm not always fond of drawings, and as much as I love Humann's photo field guides, I haven't found a book that competes with this one. There are fish in this book I've never heard of anywhere else. If you own this book, you don't need to buy another Pacific Coast fishes book. Also, the text has some good facts. Other good purchases are Humann's guides (good intro books) and More Than you Want to Know About Pacific Coast Fishes (Downside: drawings are black and white, and not in plate side by side format). Still, this is #1. Oh, and I've never seen a well used Peterson Field Guide that didn't have pages falling out.

The book is great I use it on our boat every weekend the pictures are very life like and accurate very informative

This Peterson's Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes is extremely concise and contains countless family, genus, and species entries. Also, this is one of the very few field guides that adds deepsea and pelagic fishes to their list. This section is enough for the price right there! The deep ocean fishes illustrated are stunning, and inspire the reader to explore the deep domain sometime in the future. An example of a deep sea fish is the Daggertooth: a bizarre, 20 inch rodlike fish with a mouth full of razor sharp, daggerlike teeth. This is only a single of the many deep sea families listed. Another completely amazing but unknown fish family listed are the Poachers. These fish are difficult to describe, but have a few traits of an alligator, to put it simply. There are dozens more stunning species to be found here, but you will have to read it to find the most mysterious and exhilarating ones. Also, this ocean field guide uses the best identification tool, drawings. Whether for the interested fish worshipper, or the expert marine biologist, this book will please all fascinated by the ocean.

I bought this book in anticipation of a SCUBA trip down the west coast next year. Why? Because I have good luck with Peterson guides and know that they are concise, well written and all inclusive. So far, as I try to gain some familiarity with the fishes of the west coast before I go I have not been disappointed. I'm sure that this book is to the west coast what the Atlantic guide is to the east and gulf coast. I'll write another review after I finish my trip.

This is a well-written, well-organized field guide, like all other Peterson Field Guides. The book is divided into five parts: 1. About This Book, a very brief introduction of the book; 2. Collectin and Observing Fishes, again, a brief chapter, but very useful. The next three chapters are divided into: 3. Jawless Fishes; 4. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras and 5. Bony fishes, which is where the bulk of the book is about. The book also contained an excellent glossary, and a limited number of references. Particularly useful are the detailed habitat information of each fish described, ways to identify them, and of course, the 48 pages of color and black and white drawings of the fishes. The book is an invaluable sources of information not only to ichthyologist, naturalist, but also to the comercial fisherman, professional anglers and recreational angler. The only complaint I had is that this field guide uses artists' drawing for the fishes instead of the actual picture of the fish. With the actual picture of the fish, it will make the identification of an unknown fishe much easier for the amateurs and weekend angler. Overall, an excellent book.