2013/10/01 15:28:18 Tomohiro Yoshida·Hiroyuki Motomura· Prachya Musikasinthorn·Keiichi Matsuura 表紙.indd 1 i Fishes of northern Gulf of Thailand ii iii Edited by Tomohiro Yoshida, Hiroyuki Motomura, Prachya Musikasinthorn and Keiichi Matsuura Photographed by Mizuki Matsunuma and Tomohiro Yoshida iv Copy Right © 2013 by the National Museum of Nature and Science, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, and Kagoshima University Museum All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means with- out prior written permission from the publisher. Copyrights of the specimen photographs are held by the Kagoshima University Museum. For bibliographic purposes this book should be cited as follow: Yoshida, T., H. Motomura, P. Musikasinthorn and K. Matsuura (eds.). 2013 (Sept.). Fishes of northern Gulf of Thai- land. National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, and Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima. viii + 239 pages. ISBN 978-4-905464-03-7 Cover designed by Masatoshi Meguro Corresponding editor: Hiroyuki Motomura (e-mail:
[email protected]) v Preface The Gulf of Thailand although relatively shallow with an average depth of 50 m, con- sists of a vast expanse of the Southeast Asian seas with approximately 350,000 km2. During the last ice age in the Pleistocene, about 12,000 years ago, sea levels have been estimated as being about 100–150 m lower than at present, and the current Gulf of Thailand was then a part of Sundaland. This suggests that fishes currently occurring in the Gulf of Thailand have only relatively recently settled themselves in the Gulf from outside Sundaland.