Fish are a colourful and important part of inshore marine life, much admired by divers and snorkellers. But it can be difficult to accurately identify and record these quick-moving animals underwater. This authoritative, beautifully illustrated photographic guide offers a practical, easy-to-use approach for identifying the fish species commonly seen in the waters around Britain and Ireland, as well as a few vagrant and interesting rare species. The book's concise text explains how fish can be identified underwater, and is accompanied by numerous photographs of each species in its natural environment and diagrams illustrating key features. The book also clearly indicates the cases when underwater species identification is more difficult. Published in association with the UK's Marine Conservation Society, the book makes an invaluable addition to the series of marine photographic titles of Seasearch, a species recording project for volunteer sports divers.
Lin Baldock is a biologist, a fully qualified commercial diver and an environmental consultant who has also worked as an academic researcher. Frances Dipper is a writer, lecturer and independent marine consultant who runs marine fish identification courses for marine consultancies and for Seasearch.
"Attractively produced and printed on matt paper with usefully designed cover-flaps, this should be a book to treasure – even when, further down the line, it is reduced to a dog-eared existence in the club-van's glovebox."
– Steve Weinman, DiverNet