REVIEWS

BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 66(2): 320, 2000

FISHES OF BERMUDA: HISTORY, ZOOGEOGRAPHY, ANNOTATED CHECKLIST, AND IDENTIFICATION KEYS by William F. Smith-Vaniz, Bruce B. Collette and Brian E. Luckhurst. 1999. 424 p. ISBN 1-891276-09-3. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Special Pub- lication No. 4. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas 66044-1897. $48.00 hardbound.

This book serves as a prime example of how to do a natural history book on a group of animals from a specific area. Anyone contemplating such a book should look no further for a guide. Everything about this book is of the highest scholarship and quality. I am in the process of preparing a guidebook for identifying larval fishes from the western cen- tral North Atlantic so I have delved deeply into the book, more so than for most reviews, as it is such a great source of information for my project. I found two typographical errors—a misspelled genus name in a table on page 66 (Parasphyraenops) and a wrong date on a figure caption (pl. 7, fig. 47 should read 1851) and that is it for any negative remark. The book includes a thorough synopsis of the geography, geology and ecology of Ber- muda, an historical perspective of the ichthyology of the area, and fascinating biogra- phies of nine ichthyologists who had important roles in the study of Bermuda fishes. Following these sections is a brief discussion of historical and recent fish collections made here. The most striking feature is a collection of nine plates of 57 species of fish watercolors done by Drummund-Hay between 1845 and 1851, which were the first documentation of Bermudan fishes. Drummond-Hay was an amateur ichthyologist and illustrator, but the drawings are first rate and aesthetically pleasing. There are also three additional plates of good quality color photos. There follows a nice summary of the fisheries and their management (or lack thereof), but an encouraging future is seen despite the islands having one of the highest human population densities in the world. The authors review the history of fishes introduced to Bermuda followed by an excel- lent discussion and analysis of the biodiversity and zoogeography of the fishes. This in- cludes an extensive table listing all the fishes of Bermuda with notes on each species status (includes whether species is established, introduced, etc.), range (worldwide for the species), habitat (offshore, inshore, etc.), and diet (adults only including herbivore, planktivore, etc.). A list of fishes based solely on misidentifications, unsuccessful intro- ductions, juveniles only, erroneous locality data, and poor documentation is a helpful addition to the discussion. The authors developed a coefficient of faunal similarity for selected families and present a thorough discussion of the fauna’s relation to the Baha- mas, U.S.east Coast, and the Florida Keys. Endemism is treated with comparison to other areas. Bermuda has 10 (includes 2 undescribed Fundulus) endemic species (2.3 % of the total number of species). The major part of the book is the species accounts including keys to the species. This is preceded by a key to the families with outline cartoons of representatives of each family. This family key contains 123 couplets but the cartoons are on facing pages of the respec- tive couplets, which greatly facilitates its use. The authors point out that this key is designed for Bermuda fishes and may not be suitable in other areas. It is a practical key and 338

320 320 does not strictly follow the phylogenetic order of families. Few characters are used in each couplet that greatly facilitates it. I tested the key for a family that does not occur in Bermuda (Triglidae) and one that does (Scombridae) and it was very clear and simple to arrive at the correct family (Triglidae ended with Dactlylopteridae and showed clearly that it was not that family). The bulk of the book is comprised of the family and species accounts (pages 109–358). The family accounts are brief and emphasize identification characters and habits. The species accounts include current scientific and authorship plus common names, brief synonymies, a comments section emphasizing the species relation to Bermuda, size of largest known specimens, museum material examined, and the species distribution. For multispecies families keys are provided to the species and essential diagnostic informa- tion is well illustrated when necessary. Some interesting photographs, generally of his- torical or specific interest, are scattered throughout the section. The species keys are very succinct and easy to use. Because of my early life history of fishes interests I tested the key to juvenile flying fishes and encountered no problems. This was the only family that had a juvenile key as well as the adult key. The book concludes with an appendix table listing the species used in the zoogeo- graphical analyses and a list of Bermuda collection localities plus a good chart of those deposited at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the literature cited. An index of common and scientific names completes the volume. As I stated in the beginning this is a prime example of how to do and what to include in a book of this type. The main value is the impeccable scholarship of the authors, which makes this a most dependable book. Ichthyologists should purchase copies for them- selves and recommend that it be purchased by their institutions. This recommendation is made not only because of its scientific value, but also because the profits go to the Ameri- can Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and not to the authors, who did this as a professional labor of love for ichthyology.—William J. Richards, NOAA Fisheries, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, Florida 33149.