A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes

A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes From Maine to Texas

No longer does Banded Rudderfish need to be a standard answer. Actually no, it always has to be the standard answer on the interwebs for a fish ID. At least we can now put away the ballyhoo/halfbeak debate every year around the inland bays, they are halfbeaks.

I have a ton of books and I use the Google a lot for fish identification. This guide book, published in 2011, is one of the best I have ever used. There are over a thousand fish identified with illustrations. This will be a go to guide from now on. It also has many of the Gulf coast fish I have in my aquariums.

This guide will be very helpful for all the tropical fish we see more and more of each summer. Not to mention just the general fish we see daily. There are a few pages of sand flounder, some I’ve never seen. There is a shark ID section that will help many anglers. The book is reasonably priced ($27) and available through John Hopkins University Press. A Field Guide To Coastal Fishes

“Val Kells and Kent Carpenter bring decades of experience to this project. With Kells’ detailed, vivid illustrations and Carpenter’s deep knowledge of biology, taxonomy, and nomenclature, this book captures the stunning diversity of species along America’s eastern shores.”