Fishes of the World

Book excerpt: Take your knowledge of fishes to the next level Fishes of the World, Fifth Edition is the only modern, phylogenetically based classification of the world’s fishes. The updated text offers new phylogenetic diagrams that clarify the relationships among fish groups, as well as cutting-edge global knowledge that brings this classic reference up to date. With this resource, you can classify orders, families, and genera of fishes, understand the connections among fish groups, organize fishes in their evolutionary context, and imagine new areas of research. To further assist your work, this text provides representative drawings, many of them new, for most families of fishes, allowing you to make visual connections to the information as you read. It also contains many references to the classical as well as the most up-to-date literature on fish relationships, based on both morphology and molecular biology. The study of fishes is one that certainly requires dedication—and access to reliable, accurate information. With more than 30,000 known species of sharks, rays, and bony fishes, both lobe-finned and ray-finned, you will need to master your area of study with the assistance of the best reference materials available. This text will help you bring your knowledge of fishes to the next level. Explore the anatomical characteristics, distribution, common and scientific names, and phylogenetic relationships of fishes Access biological and anatomical information on more than 515 families of living fishes Better appreciate the complexities and controversies behind the modern view of fish relationships Refer to an extensive bibliography, which points you in the direction of additional, valuable, and up-to-date information, much of it published within the last few years Fishes of the World, Fifth Edition is an invaluable resource for professional ichthyologists, aquatic ecologists, marine biologists, fish breeders, aquaculturists, and conservationists.