Thompson's Guide to Freshwater Fishes

Book excerpt: This is a field guide with a plus: It not only tells how to identify the common freshwater fishes of North America, it also tells how to collect them and keep them in a home aquarium. It includes the fishes you are most likely to see or catch in any lake or stream in North America, from the Longnose Gar and Northern Pike to the Rosyside Dace and Ninespine Stickleback. Important features are: 113 species in 22 families -- trouts, minnows, sunfishes, perches, catfishes, killifishes, and many othrs, with an emphasis on fishes that are suitable for aquarium life. 119 beautiful four-color illustratoins by Peter Thompson -- at least one illustration for each species. Clear, lively descriptions of each species and family, telling how to recognize them, where and when to find them, how to collect and keep them in an aquarium or fish pool, what to feed them, how to breed them, and interesting facts about habitat, life cycle, natural history, and local names. Range maps showing the North American distribution of each species.