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REEF AND SHORE FISHES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. John E. Randall. 2007. Sea Grant College Program, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu. ISBN 1-929054-03-3. 560 p. $125.00 (hard cover). - After 47 years there finally is a new comprehensive book on the fishes of the Hawaiian Islands. Since the publication of the W. A. Gosline and Vernon E. Brock book Handbook of Haxuaiian Fishes in 1960, that publication has been the only one available to aid in the identification of the fishes of the Hawaiian Islands. It contained keys to the species and a few black and white drawings. Much later (1996), Randall published his Shore Fishes of Hawaii, a small, paper-bound handbook with color photographs of the more common species and short descriptions of each, but there were no keys. This book was aimed more at snorkelers, divers, and tourists visiting the islands. Having taught ichthyology at the University of Hawai'i for 16 years, I and my predecessors supplemented Gosline and Brock with mimeographed (if you are old enough to remember those) and Xerox copies of various keys to the different fish families. Identifying the smaller, less obvious fish species was always a problem-until this book.
John (Jack) Randall has now produced the ultimate book on the fishes of the Hawaiian Islands, and those teaching ichthyology now and in the future in Hawai'i finally have a scholarly text that not only contains keys to all of the species, but also excellent color photographs of them. Jack received his Ph.D. at the University of Hawai'i, and then later returned to Hawai'i as Curator of Fishes at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum where he spent most of his career. His extensive collections and experience yielded not only his 1996 Shore Fishes ofHaxuati handbook but also several books on the fishes of areas to the south and west, including Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea (1996) and Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific: New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcaim Islands (2005). We are fortunate that he has put his vast knowledge of the unique Hawaiian fish fauna into print for the rest of us. I only wish this book had been published before I retired. Jack Randall clearly is the dean of Hawaiian...