THIS BOOK
This book is designed as a pictorial guide that relies on visual comparison between the painted illustrations and actual specimens, photographs, or underwater observations. Distinguishing features are highlighted in the text accompanying each plate, in most cases referring to colour pattern or the shape of the body or fins. These features are useful for differentiating the species in question from its close relatives, or species it is likely to be confused with. A guide to families based on outline drawings precedes the species section. When attempting to place a fish in the proper family particular attention should be given to the head and body shape, number of dorsal fins, placement of fins and their positions relative to one another, and presence or absence of spiny elements in dorsal and anal fins in particular. The use of technical scientific words is deliberately avoided, but a few terms relating to the external features of fishes are useful for identification and are illustrated below.
Each species account appearing on the page opposite the corresponding plate includes the common name and scientific name followed by the name of the person who first described it and the date of description. If the person’s name appears in parentheses it indicates that the species was originally placed in a genus different from its presently recognised one.
Common names are invariably contentious in that species that range widely often have several common names according to locality. This problem is greatly compounded in South-east Asia because of the huge number of languages and dialects spoken. Because of this problem, it is unfortunately not possible to use local names. Therefore Australian common names are utilised. The basis for many of these is Munro’s Fishes of New Guinea, Marshall’s Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef Allen and Swainston’s Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia, and Randall, Allen, and Steene’s Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.
The text for each species contains general information on habitat, feeding habits, distinguishing features, and geographic distribution. Several of the distributional terms need to be explained in more detail. Indo-E. Pacific refers to a distribution that extends from East Africa to the Americas; E. Indian Ocean and W. Pacific is generally from the Maldives eastward to the western fringe of the Pacific, including Micronesia and Melanesia; W. and C. Pacific refers to the area encompassing the western fringe of the Pacific from Japan to Australia and extending eastward to embrace much of Oceania, often to Samoa, Tuamotus, or Society Islands south of the equator, and the Line Islands (and sometimes Hawaii) north of the equator; Indo-Australian Archipelago embraces the region including the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, Philippines, northern Australia, and the islands of Melanesia.
The maximum known total length, measured from snout tip to the end of the tail is given at the end of each species account and for a few exceptionally large fishes the maximum recorded weight is also given. I have purposely omitted information on relative abundance (i.e., common, rare, etc.) as this parameter is subject to considerable local variation depending on availability of suitable habitat and in the case of migratory species, the time of year.
In addition to the individual species accounts, ‘boxes’ of text are included for most plates which contain general information for families, pertaining to such topics as number of species worldwide, ecology including food habits, and any noteworthy behavioural or morphological characteristics.
COLOUR PATTERNS
A major shortcoming of any field guide to fishes is that it is virtually impossible to illustrate all of the variations in colour that commonly occur within a single species. With a few exceptions the colours shown here are the “normal” or average ones displayed by live fish in their natural habitat. Anglers especially will be well aware that many fishes can drastically alter their coloration after being caught. Variation in colour pattern within individual species may also be related to age, sex, environmental conditions, or geography. Angelfishes (Plates 21-22), damselfishes (Plates 23-28), wrasses (Plates 28-32), and parrotfishes (Plates 33-34) are particularly notorious for dramatic changes in livery between the juvenile and adult stages. Wrasses and parrotfishes are also well known for their often different male and female patterns. Mainly due to budgetary restrictions it was not possible to illustrate all the variations related to sex and age, but they are included for a number of the more common species.
EDIBILITY RATINGS
Star symbols that give an indication of the eating qualities of a particular fish appear at the bottom right of each species account unless the fish is too small for human consumption or if there is no available information. Symbols are as follows: ★ = poor eating; ★★ = fair eating; ★★★ = good eating; ★★★★ = excellent eating; P = poisonous. The star symbols are intended as approximate guides only. Wide variation in the edibility of a given species may be caused by a number of factors of which, degree of freshness and method of preparation are particularly important.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Trustees of the Western Australian Museum for their support of this project. Details of planning, typesetting, and technical layout were facilitated by Museum Publications Department staff members Ann Ousey, Greg Jackson, Vince Mclnerney, and Malcolm Parker. I am also indebted to Sue Morrison, Technical Officer in the Fish Section of the Museum’s Department of Aquatic Zoology for her assistance with the preparation of this volume.
Field work in north-western Australia was greatly assisted by the following people: Tony and Avril Ayling, John Braun, Norrie Cross, Eve and Bill Curry, Craig Howson, Hugh Morrison, Ian Parker, Neil Sarti, and Barry Wilson. I am particularly grateful for the assistance and companionship of the Museum’s marine biological group (past and present) including Paddy Berry, Clay Bryce, Ray George, Barry Hutchins, Diane Jones, Louisette Marsh, Gary Morgan, Shirley Slack-Smith, and Fred Wells.
Roger Steene of Cairns, Queensland, an Honoray Associate of the W.A. Museum’s Department of Aquatic Zoology, accompanied me on numerous field trips throughout the region and was particularly helpful in providing collecting assistance, and photographic coverage of numerous fishes featured in this book.
Walter Starck, former owner of the research vessel “El Torito”, graciously offered the use of his ship for fieldwork at Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and on the Great Barrier Reef. Walter first introduced me to the underwater realm of this fascinating region 25 years ago.
I am particularly grateful to the following owners and dive managers of various resorts in the South-east Asian region for providing accommodation, diving facilities, and boat transport: Ron Holland, Jenny Majalup, Graham and Donna Taylor, (Borneo Divers, Sabah), Alan Raabe, Max and Cecilie Benjamen (Walindi Plantation Resort, New Britain), Anton Saksono (Pulau Putri Island Resort, Java Sea), Kal Muller (Komodo Tour and Travel), Hanny and Inneke Batuna (Manado Murex Resort, Sulawesi), Frans Seda (Sao Wisata Resort, Maumere, Flores), and Mark Eckenbarger (Kungkungan Bay Resort, N. Sulawesi). Dive guide, Wally Sagian of Denpasar, Bali assisted with collecting and photography on Bali, Komodo, and Flores. Rudie Kuiter and Roger Steene also provided diving companionship and assistance at several Indonesian sites. Phil Munday offered similar assistance at Kimbe Bay, New Britain.
Excellent facilities for extensive field work and research on coral reef fishes was provided by the Christensen Research Institute, Madang, Papua New Guinea under the directorships of Matthew Jebb and Larry Orsak. I am also grateful to Diane Christensen and the Board of Directors
