Books >Marine Books >The rockpool fishes of New Zealand =: Te ika aaria o Aotearoa >
 | The rockpool fishes of New Zealand =: Te ika aaria o Aotearoaby C. D Paulin isbn: 0908953011 177 pages, Unknown Binding Publication date: 1992 Publisher: Museum of New Zealand Buy this @amazon.com |
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Prepared and published with assistance from the NZ Lottery Grants Board. Royalties from this book will be deposited in the Museum of New Zealand’s Department of Natural Environment (Fishes) discretionary fund to be used for the increase in knowledge about NZ fishes and to World Wide Fund for Nature to be used for conservation work in the coastal marine environment.
This comprehensive book is a must for anyone interested in our coastal waters and rockpools. All species of intertidal fish that commonly occur in North and South Island rockpools are covered. Identification is aided by a pictorial key and divided into two sections. The first covers species commonly found in rockpools as adult fish. Section two includes species of the surge zone and subtidal reef fishes that are seen in rockpools, often as juveniles.
Each section has the fish families in alphabetical order by common name. A brief paragraph at the beginning of each provides information on distribution, ecology and identification characteristics. Species within each family are listed in alphabetical order by common name, followed by the maori name and the scientific name, complete with a translation of the Latin meaning.
Along with beautiful colour photographs of fish and locations, there are many line drawings, graphs and location maps. There is also information on how best to preserve a fish and photographing dead specimens pending identification. Historical aspects, the coastal environment and zoogeography are also covered briefly, but informatively. Did you know there are around 20 different known species of triplefins (cockabullies) commonly found in New Zealand waters? New Zealand has a third of the world’s known species.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in our coastal rockpools. Catching fishes in the pools then identifying them with the help of this book is great fun and keeps the children amused as well.
last update: November 20, 2008, 2:40 am
