Randall: Shore Fishes of Hawai'i

What I really liked about the book: This book truly has excellent photos, better than many other fish books I've seen. One of the most important things you need for identification is often multiple photos because different stages of several species change so dramatically. For example for Stareye Parrotfish they have 3 shots; Initial phase male, Terminal phase male, subadults. What I found lacking was general info. There is just general description, range and then a blip about species. Text is pretty small. But that helps in reducing the size of a book that is already 200 pages, important for weight issues for flying. There were a couple of very small tidal fish that I have not been able to id with this book.

Every snorkeler or scuba diver who visits or plans to visit Hawaii should own this book. Excellent pictures and descriptions!

I enjoy looking at this book. It will come in handy for my trip to Hawaii.

Shore Fishes of Hawai'i by Johne E. Randall serves as a valuable resource tool from snorkelers to ichthyological enthusiasts. The introduction gives a brief overview of the Hawaiian history of fishes, biogeographic theories of distribution as it pertains to Hawaiian fishes, and basic information on fish taxonomy. The balance of the book seperates in to sections on each family in a phylogenetic order. Each family section has a brief description of characters, life history, and observational notes. This is followed by a photograph of the species most likely to be seen by snorkelers, divers, and fishermen. Each photograph is captioned with information regarding characters to identify it, distribution and depth where it may be encountered, attainable size, diet, and other miscellaneous information. Each photo is labled with both common name and scientific binomial, as well as author and date of original (or valid) description of the species. Many of the species have photographs of multiple adult phases and juveniles. A glossary of terms follows the last family entry. An index by scientific name, family, common name, and Hawaiian name concludes the book. This book would complement the library of anyone comptemplating visiting Hawaii with an interest in the fishes, anyone with an interest in aquarium fishes, or to divers and ichthyologists seeking a good identification and reference guide.