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Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - Book Review, Sea Fishes
One of the first things a new diver wants to buy once they have gained their "C card" (apart from their dive gear) is a good book that can be used to identify fish. There are so many fish to be seen, all of them new to us that it is important to have a book that can be used with a good deal of confidence to accurately find out the name of that fish you have seen on your dive.
I have many fish identification books, costing from a few dollars to almost $100. However, the best (for diving in my part of the world) is a book that I picked up for about $15 about 10 years ago. The book, Sea Fishes of Southern Australia contains more than 678 colour drawings together with detailed descriptions of the fish, their local range (eg on sand, in esturaries etc), their overall range, maximum sizes and a number of other bits of information. As well as the main common name, there are alternative common names, scientific names, an indication of edibility, warnings about poisonous and dangerous fish and Australian record size.
This really is "the book" to have if you are a diving who scuba dives in the area from Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne to Adelaide to Perth as well as Tasmania. This is by far the most popular fish book among divers I know and I have yet to meet any keen diver who does not have a copy.
Sea Fishes of Southern Australia is by Barry Hutchins and Roger Swainston and is published by Swainston Publishing, 565 Hay Street, Daglish, WA, Australia.
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v6.00.307 © 2003-2005
