A comprehensive and practical guide to identifying sea fishes commonly seen in Australian waters, the book is for fish watchers, divers, snorkellers and anglers. It provides a view of the diversity of sea fish life along the Australian coastline.

A comprehensive and practical guide to identifying fish commonly seen in Australian waters, the book is for fish watchers, divers, snorkellers and anglers. It provides a view of the diversity of sea fish life along the Australian coastline.

A fascinating overview of the extraordinary diversity of Australia's marine and freshwater fishes, illustrated with Roger Swainston's breathtaking artwork Roger Swainston's breathtaking artwork provides a fascinating overview of the extraordinary diversity of Australia's marine and freshwater fishes. More than 1500 remarkable illustrations portray every family of fishes ever recorded from Australian waters. The names of all known species are listed alongside detailed information on the taxonomy and biology of each family.

This book traces the discovery of Australia’s fishes from the earliest days of taxonomy to the first part of the 20th century. It provides a unique insight into the diverse pathways by which Australia’s fish were discovered and outlines the history of early maritime explorations in Australia that collected natural history specimens. The book covers the life and work of each of the most important discoverers, and assesses their accomplishments and the limitations of their work. Discovery of Australia’s Fishes is distinctive in that a biographic approach is integrated with chronological descriptions of the discovery of the Australian fish fauna. Many of northern Australia’s fishes are found in parts of the Indian and western Pacific oceans. The book covers the work of collectors who travelled outside Australia, together with that of the British and European zoologists who received and described their collections. The account ceases at 1930, the year the first modern checklist of Australian fishes was published. 2012 Whitley Award Commendation for Historical Zoology.

This phenomenally successful guide to the wealth and variety of fish in Australia’s tropical waters — including the Great Barrier Reef — and south-east Asia has been updated and expanded. The book has sold more than 20,000 copies in its previous editions, and is an invaluable reference for divers and anglers, to both scientists and the lay person; to everyone with an interest in our remarkable tropical fish. Full colour illustrations by leading Australian marine artists, Roger Swainton and Jill Ruse, make identification easy. The author has also included an edibility guide.