CORAL REEF FISHES: DYNAMICS AND DIVERSITY IN A COMPLEX ECOSYSTEM

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CORAL REEF FISHES DYNAMICS AND DIVERSITY IN A COMPLEXECOSYSTEMAuthor(s) David W GreenfieldSource Copeia 2003(1)214-216 2003Published By The American Society of Ichthyologists and HerpetologistsDOI httpdxdoiorg1016430045-8511(2003)003[0214]20CO2URL httpwwwbiooneorgdoifull1016430045-8511282003290035B02143A5D20CO3B2

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209BOOK REVIEWS

NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLES A NAT-URAL HISTORY C Kenneth Dodd Jr 2001University of Oklahoma Press NormanOklahoma ISBN 0-8061-3294-9 (hardcover) 0-8061-3501-8 (paperback) 231 p $5995 (hard-cover) $3495 (paperback)mdashFew North Amer-ican reptiles are as well known as box turtlesMost people recognize Terrapene as the terres-trial turtle one encounters in rural and occa-sionally suburban areas Some are aware of theirlongevity and the fact that many are killed onroads and by grass mowers throughout theirrange Well-intentioned people routinely movelive ones off the road sometimes taking themto distant places for release Most however areunaware of the consequences of their actionsand the rich body of cultural and scientific in-formation on this charismatic chelonian KenDoddrsquos masterful and highly readable bookopens to us the human connections to box tur-tles in history art and archeology as well as therole this turtle has played in the scientific arenasof systematics behavior ecology evolution andconservation

Doddrsquos stated purpose for writing this bookwas twofold to introduce the amateur naturalistand others to the natural history of NorthAmerican box turtles and to summarize the sci-entific literature for the professional biologistAlthough this book is not an exhaustive reviewof everything ever written on box turtles his in-tegration of information from various fieldswith data and observations from his own studiesprovides both audiences with a reference thatwill be used for many years He notes in thePreface that this is not a book about captivecare stating that box turtles generally makepoor pets and that collection from wild popu-lations is discouraged Unfortunately some peo-ple consider keeping them a just cause Theytoo need to read this book

The book opens with a chapter entitled lsquolsquoAMost Amiable Reptilersquorsquo After a brief introduc-tion to box turtle nomenclature and morphol-ogy we are treated to summaries of their use asfood ceremonial ornaments and spiritual sym-bols by North American Indians over the past3000 years and how they have been the subjectof numerous artists and art forms Several worksof art are illustrated in color There is even abox turtle beer by an enlightened brewery inNorth Carolina Box turtles have also contrib-uted substantially to the advancement of sci-ence notably in paleontology and long-termecological studies these topics are placed withina historical context Research techniques on

box turtles their populations and their envi-ronments are introduced in this initial chapter

Subsequent chapters focus more directly onevolution habitats activity and movement be-havior courtship and reproduction food andfeeding behavior population structure and de-mography predators parasites and disease andconservation Each of the four species is de-scribed in separate accounts that include a tax-onomic synonymy etymology distribution anddot map many aspects of their life historiesand miscellaneous remarks as well as a robustintroduction to the scientific literature Dorsaland ventral aspects of the skull and mandibleand a lateral view of the skull are included foreach species in pen-and-ink drawings There isa key to species and subspecies a glossary 21pages of literature cited and indices to artistscollectors and researchers and common andscientific names and subjects A color signatureof 48 photographs of art works all subspeciesand selected habitats is in the center of thebook

Each chapter begins with an appropriatequote or two and ends with what I consider tobe one of the most important contributions ofthis book a sometimes lengthy section of futuredirections Here Dodd points out gaps in ourknowledge and where the literature has beenwrongly focused or weak In some chapters thissection includes useful hypotheses that can betested in future research One comes away fromthis book knowing clearly that there are manyquestions to keep biologists occupied for de-cades to come

The production quality of the hardboundbook is high with a secure binding balancedlayout on acid-free paper and an attractive dustjacket Resolution of the black-and-white pho-tographs should have been higher figures 1-7and 1-8 for example are blurred in the twocopies I have seen The text is relatively free oferrors A minor one is a nonitalicized scientificname in the caption for figure 1-5 The statisti-cal bar for the winter relative humidity samplein figure 4-6 is apparently missing since all oth-er graphs with other environmental data havebars for all four seasons The shading for thejuvenile category in a histogram showing pop-ulation age-class structure (fig 8-1) is invisiblein the book A notation to distinguish markedand unmarked turtles in figure 8-2 should havebeen added [The last two problems have beencorrected in the paperback editionmdashKDW]

Much of the quantitative ecological and nat-ural history information provided in this bookwas derived from Doddrsquos studies of the Floridabox turtle on Edgemont Key in Tampa Bay He

210 COPEIA 2003 NO 1

effectively integrates his original published andsome unpublished information with that de-rived from other studies done elsewhere in thebox turtlersquos range Conclusions drawn from hisstudies and those of others on ecology and be-havior are sound and realistic

Everyone should pay attention to the chapteron conservation Like many species box turtlesare in trouble throughout their range Manyplaces where one could find them years ago arecovered with urban sprawl or degraded by hu-man activities Habitat fragmentation commer-cial trade direct human mortality fire chemi-cal pollution and disease threaten individualsand populations Dodd offers several conserva-tion and habitat management options thatcould slow population decline and range con-traction He rightly points out that box turtlesare often considered lsquolsquocommonrsquorsquo and indeed insome places they may still be Too many placeshowever harbor lsquolsquopopulations of the livingdeadrsquorsquo with only old adults hanging on Wide-spread public awareness about the many prob-lems these turtles face would be enhanced ifthis book were in every library throughout therange of this group Amateur turtle lovers es-pecially should read the section on displace-ment and homing (p 74) and the conservationchapter carefully because box turtles lsquolsquorescuedrsquorsquoby well meaning people and released outsidetheir home ranges will likely wander and beeven more imperiled than they would be if theyjust moved the turtle across the road Wildliferehabilitators who treat injured turtles shouldalso be aware that release of rehabilitated indi-viduals elsewhere may actually invalidate theiractions Dodd could have been a little strongerin this discussion

Like Archie Carr before him Dodd clearlylikes box turtles and has had a close associationwith them since boyhood days Readers can de-tect his spiritual connection to nature via theseturtles in his sometimes poetic writing espe-cially in Chapter 1 He clearly understands thedynamics of box turtle populations their habi-tats on a seasonal and long-term basis and theirbehavior under varying conditions This comesacross in several chapters in ways that readerstoo can clearly understand Thus Doddrsquos aimof reaching amateur naturalists and profession-al biologists is in my view achieved admirably

This is a well-balanced book and a major con-tribution to the chelonian literature I won-dered whether such books could be written forother reptiles but I realized few species orgroups have as much of the right stuff Whatmakes box turtles so amiable and a great storyis their long association with humans the com-

plexity of their long lives the art devoted to thisanimal and the fact that lsquolsquoEverybody likes boxturtlesrsquorsquo

JOSEPH C MITCHELL Department of Biology Uni-versity of Richmond Richmond Virginia 23173E-mail jmitchelrichmondedu

VERTEBRATE FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLO-GY HORIZON OF RESEARCH IN THE 21STCENTURY Hiran M Dutta and J S Datta Mun-shi (eds) 2001 Science Publishers Inc En-field New Hampshire ISBN 1-57808-098-3 487p $13800 (hardbound)mdashVertebrate function-al morphology has become a diverse disciplinethat includes anatomy development behaviorphysiology physics and evolution When buyinga book on functional morphology a biologistmight be looking for an introductory or ad-vanced text for a course or searching for a de-tailed review of a particular topic such as thefunctional morphology of feeding or locomo-tion This volume with its alluring subtitle Ho-rizon of Research in the 21st Century is neitheran overview of the field nor an exploration ofa single theme Instead it is a collection of pa-pers on diverse topics in functional morpholo-gy mostly using histology as the central tech-nique It is a valuable collection of papers onsome relatively unexplored facets of histologyand functional morphology with good litera-ture reviews on a range of topics It is not atextbook it is not a general introduction to thefield of functional morphology and it is not re-ally a view to the future of the field in mostcases Most papers are reviews and almost noneuse modern techniques in biomechanics likehigh-speed video flow visualization electromy-ography or sonomicrometry I am glad to havea copy and will consult it from time to time butat $13800 it is likely to be purchased mainly bythose of us who work in the fields of functionalmorphology or histology

Editors Dutta and Munshi have collected afascinating and eclectic set of papers that to-gether form a valuable resource but skip theintroduction by Pieter Dullemeijer It is sevenpages of explanation of the hypothetico-deduc-tive philosophy of functional morphology thatseems to boil down to the process of (1) ob-serving an interesting structure or function (2)generating a hypothesis or model about formand function relationships and (3) taking somedata and testing the model or hypothesis En-

211BOOK REVIEWS

tirely reasonable but not exactly laid out withan economy of words

The real strength of this book is the focus onorgan-system histology which gets only brieftreatment in most functional morphologybooks Chapter 1 is a beautiful study of lampreycartilage by Glenda Wright and Fred KeeleyThey demonstrate that lamprey cartilage is al-most completely noncollagenous and presentsome excellent histological images and data onthe structure and composition of the lampreyskeleton The study includes molecular analysisof lamprin proteins and a review of the devel-opment of lamprin-based cartilage In anothernice histological study Munshi and GeorgeHughes present in Chapter 2 the ultrastructureof respiratory islets in the air-breathing fishesAnabas Channa Monopterus and several othertaxa The paper presents new morphologicaldata on the transformation of gill filaments andlamellae into respiratory islets These structuresplay a key role in the ability of these fishes toexchange oxygen in a bimodal gas-exchangemechanism with either air or water

Two chapters (5 and 7) are written by Krys-tyna Zuwala and Michal Jakubowski on taste or-gans of fishes and amphibians respectivelyBoth contain excellent photomicrographs oftaste buds a thorough review of the pertinentliterature and discussion of the function of celltypes in gustatory organs Scanning and trans-mission electron microscopy are also used byLucyna Goniakowska-Witalinska in Chapter 8on development of the amphibian lung Shepresents data on larval stages of three speciesof amphibians examining differences in celltype surfactant and the blood-air barrier todraw correlations between morphology and re-spiratory activity

Two chapters focus on reproductive systemsChapter 9 by Mari Carmen Uribe Aranzabal onamphibian reproductive systems and Chapter15 on mammalian reproduction by Amjad Hos-sain and Hiran Dutta Aranzabal also uses his-tology to examine ultrastructure of the repro-ductive organs making a nice contribution tothe theme of the book and providing a litera-ture review of morphology of the amphibian tes-tis and ovary The chapter on mammalian sys-tems is more introductory showing the generalanatomy of reproductive systems that one mightexpect from a text and is accompanied by ashort literature review

To complete the histological theme are di-verse chapters on the microanatomy of the ver-tebrate integument (Chapter 11 by DominiqueHomberger) kidney structure (Chapter 12 byH Ditrich) circulatory vessels (Chapter 13 by

Olga Gurina) and the digestive system of insec-tivores and bats (Chapter 14 by Natalya Zhu-kova) Homberger uses the ultrastructure ofbeaks horns and other integumentary deriva-tives to examine questions of homology andfunction Ditrich traces the structure of the glo-merulus from fishes to amphibians squamatesand birds Gurina uses some interesting photo-graphs of capillary structure and vessel histologyto examine circulatory structure across manyvertebrate taxa Zhukova examines a number ofcell types in the different regions of the diges-tive system to test hypotheses of specializationin diet and food processing among insectivoresand bats The last chapter in the book by Jo-hannes Streicher on 3-D reconstruction is a re-view of sectioning and imaging technologies forreconstruction of three-dimensional morpholo-gy

Outside the histology theme are several chap-ters in a more classic functional morphology fla-vor Two chapters (3 and 4) are by editor HiranDutta on the structure and function of the fishskull The anatomy chapter is 45 pages and isan exercise in descriptive morphology that un-fortunately has some problems The first prob-lem is the poor quality of figure reproductionsthat in some illustrations is grainy and fuzzy sec-ond the species of fishes being illustrated arenot identified in any of the figure captions Athird problem is the nomenclature used formuscles The names and homologies of mostcranial muscles are widely agreed upon (follow-ing Winterbottom 1974) but Dutta uses hisown system to name major muscles For exam-ple misnamed are the dilatator operculi (mis-spelled dilator) and the levator arcus palatini(called lsquolsquoprotractor hyomandibulaersquorsquo and mis-spelled lsquolsquoprotectorrsquorsquo in text but correct in figurelegend) The chapter on function of the headis noteworthy for the details on respiration andgulping giving valuable review and referencesThe sections on feeding are also useful as a re-view but the chapter leaves out many recentstudies and does not include some of the usefulbiomechanical models of the head developedby both European and American researchers

Also on the skull there is a paper on func-tional morphology of feeding in squamates(Chapter 6 by Ken Kardong and Vincent Bels)and a review of the woodpecker skull by WalterBock in Chapter 10 The squamate feedingchapter contains the only phylogeny in thebook used to trace functional characters acrosslizards and snakes The work focuses on char-acter transformation and cranial kinesis and isa thorough review of the topic The woodpeckerchapter is the most biomechanical in the book

with calculations of the forces transmittedthrough the head during pecking and a nicesynthetic review of Bockrsquos previous work andthat of others

The book may be aptly named if we recognizethat tissue structure and histology will continueto play key roles in functional morphology Bi-ologists keen on tissue-level organization of ver-tebrate organs will likely want this work as a ref-erence

LITERATURE CITED

WINTERBOTTOM R 1974 A descriptive synonymy ofthe striated muscles of the Teleostei Proc AcadNat Sci Phila 125225ndash317

MARK W WESTNEAT Department of Zoology FieldMuseum of Natural History 1400 South Lake-shore Drive Chicago Illinois 60605-2496 E-mailmwestneatfieldmuseumorg

FAO SPECIES IDENTIFICATION GUIDE FORFISHERY PURPOSES THE LIVING MARINERESOURCES OF THE WESTERN CENTRALPACIFIC Carpenter K E and V H Niem(eds) Volume 1 Seaweeds corals bivalves andgastropods 1998 p 1-686 ISBN 92-5-104051-6Volume 2 Cephalopods crustaceans holothu-rians and sharks 1998 p 687ndash1396 ISBN 92-5-104052-4 Volume 3 Batoid fishes chimaerasand bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophryn-idae) 1999 p 1397ndash2068 ISBN 92-5-104302-7Volume 4 Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Car-angidae) 1999 p 2069ndash2790 ISBN 92-5-104301-9 Volume 5 Bony fishes part 3 (Meni-dae to Pomacentridae) 2001 p 2791ndash3380ISBN 92-5-104587-9 Volume 6 Bony fishes part4 (Labridae to Latimeriidae) estuarine croco-diles sea turtles sea snakes and marine mam-mals 2001 p 3381ndash4218 ISBN 92-5-104589-5Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unit-ed Nations (FAO) Rome $12000 per volume(softbound) Information for ordering is avail-able at httpwwwfaoorgicataloginter-ehtm(select lsquolsquoInteractive Cataloguersquorsquo then selectlsquolsquoFisheriesrsquorsquo and page down to find the westerncentral Pacific volumes)mdashThis series of vol-umes covers the known warm-water macro-ma-rine life of the Pacific Ocean between 988E and1228W longitude or most of the western Pacificand Pacific Plate This lsquolsquowestern central Pacificrsquorsquoregion includes FAO Fishing Area 71 and an(overlapping) area covered by the South PacificCommission The eastern part of the latter be-

tween approximately 1748 and 1228W was notincluded in the only previous FAO treatment ofthe western Pacific the 1974 species identifica-tion sheets for the western central Pacific Fish-ing Area 71 The editors note that the westerncentral Pacific area treated in this guide encom-passes the highest diversity of marine species ex-ploited by fisheries in the world The impor-tance to fishery resource managers of correctlyidentifying marine species is emphasized andthe stated purpose of the guide is to provideinformation for the accurate identification ofthose species The guide includes general re-marks on major taxonomic groups illustrationsdepicting technical terms and measurementskeys or pictorial guides to orders or familiesbiological and fisheries information for familiesthe standard FAO notes on similar families andchecklists of all species occurring in the areawith those for which species accounts are in-cluded symbolically denoted As is standard forFAO guides keys to species and species ac-counts that include illustrations distributionalmaps and other information are provided onlyfor species most important to fisheries For oth-ers including large diverse families such as theApogonidae Blenniidae Gobiidae Eleotridi-dae diagnostic features of the family are provid-ed along with illustrated generic keys and noteson habitat biology and fisheries For numerousfamilies plates of beautiful color photographsare included most taken by J E Randall whothe editors acknowledge generously allowed ac-cess to his photographic library

To be able to comment on the guide as anidentification resource for ichthyologists at-tempts were made initially with the aid of a fewinterns and volunteers to identify approximate-ly 40 lots of western central Pacific fishes fromcollections of the United States National Muse-um of Natural History (USNM) The first prob-lem encountered was locating a particular fishfamily in the five volumes on fishes Higher taxasuch as orders and families are arranged phy-logenetically within the series not alphabetical-ly by family as in other FAO guides and locatinga family often proved difficult Ultimately wediscovered that although the index for each ofVolumes 1ndash5 covers only taxa in that volume anindex for the entire guide appears at the endof Volume 6 Until one becomes familiar withthe contents of each volume frequent consul-tation of that index is necessary For users of theguide who are not very experienced with tax-onomy and phylogeny of bony fishes a veryhelpful lsquolsquoGuide to Orders and Familiesrsquorsquo is pro-vided on p 1548ndash1618 of Volume 3

Most keys worked well Taxa easily identified

213BOOK REVIEWS

with the guide included species or genera of an-tennariids atherinids belonids blenniids cae-sionids clupeids congrogadids coryphaenidsepinepheline serranids gerreids gobiids eleo-tridids haemulids hemirhamphids holocen-trids kuhliids leiognathids lophiids polynem-ids scatophagids synodontids and uranoscop-ids The most common problems encounteredin keys for some other groups included confus-ing insufficient or erroneous information andapparent switches of information between thetwo parts of a couplet

For example the key to marine Plotosidae (p1881 Vol 3) was inadequate for identifying alot of Plotosus lineatus because the specimens ex-amined exhibit features of both 2a (Paraploto-sus) and 2b (Plotosus) The specimens of P li-neatus examined have the anterior nostril situ-ated dorsal to the upper lip with the openingdirected anteriorly and the gill membranes nar-rowly attached across the isthmus (2b Plotosus)but they have the first dorsal fin extending pos-teriorly beyond the origin of the second dorsalfin when appressed (2a Paraplotosus) Addition-ally the second dorsal fin originates slightly infront of a vertical through the origin of the pel-vic fin as described in 2a for Paraplotosus ratherthan posterior to a vertical through the originof the pelvic fin in Plotosus (2b) The illustra-tions of P lineatus provided in figure 4 (p 1882)and in the species account (p 1883) likewise donot reflect the diagnostic features of Plotosusprovided in the key the first dorsal fin is clearlyhigh enough that if appressed it would reachposteriorly beyond the origin of the second dor-sal fin and the second dorsal fin clearly origi-nates anterior to a vertical through the originof the pelvic fin Plotosus lineatus is easily iden-tified by the presence of white body stripes butthe key needs to be modified to accommodatethis species

There is also an error in the anthiine part ofthe serranid key on page 2448 (Vol 4) Speci-mens of Pseudanthias squamipinnis exhibit fea-tures described in 29b that is dorsal fin notnotched between spinous and soft portions su-pramaxilla absent (if present itrsquos so small as tobe indistinct in whole specimens) branchedcaudal fin rays 13 and maxilla scaly Followingthis part of the couplet leads to Selenanthias andPlectranthias The presence or absence of anotched dorsal fin should be switched in thecouplet so that 29a is lsquolsquodorsal fin not notched rsquorsquo and 29b is lsquolsquodorsal fin distinctly notched rsquorsquo The rest of 29a is broad enough to coverfeatures observed in P squamipinnis that is lsquolsquosu-pramaxilla present (may be rudimentary)branched caudal fin rays 12ndash15 (usually 15)

maxilla scaly or nakedrsquorsquo Following this modified29a does lead to Pseudanthias and ultimately toP squamipinnis

A problem was encountered in the key to Lu-tjanus when attempting to identify a lot of Lu-tjanus decussatus from Indonesia At couplet 3(p 2844 Vol 5) 3a is lsquolsquoground colour pale with a series of 4 or 5 longitudinal stripes on sidersquorsquo and 3b is lsquolsquocolour not as aboversquorsquo TheUSNM specimens clearly have and Fig 40(Plate VI) of L decussatus in the guide clearlyshows five longitudinal stripes on the bodyhowever selecting 3a leads to Lutjanus kasmiraor Lutjanus quinquelineatus neither of which iscorrect in part because those species lack alarge black spot at the base of the caudal fincharacteristic of L decussatus By choosing 3bfor no reason other than knowing the correctidentification one does arrive at L decussatus

Two problems were noted in the key to Bal-istidae both involving the pattern of spines orridges on the scales of the caudal peduncle Bal-istoides and Sufflamen are separated at couplet 7(p 3913 Vol 6) by the forward extent of lon-gitudinal scale ridges to at least the middle ofthe body in Sufflamen to only a short distanceforward of the caudal peduncle in BalistoidesFirst lsquolsquolongitudinal scale ridgesrsquorsquo is a poor de-scription of the chocolate-chip-like black spinyprojections emerging from scales of the centralcaudal peduncular region of the species exam-ined B conspicillum More important althoughthese structures extend only a short distanceforward of the caudal peduncle in B conspicil-lum smaller unpigmented but otherwise iden-tical projections are present on scales as far for-ward as midbody Confusion arises because thediagnostic feature for Sufflamen in 7b lsquolsquolongi-tudinal scale ridges extend to at least middle ofbodyrsquorsquo seems a logical choice for the long seriesof spiny projections in B conspicillum Fortu-nately the pigment pattern of B conspicillum isone of the most distinctive of tropical Pacificfishes and identification of the species is easy

A second problem with the balistid key wasencountered when attempting to identify Rhi-necanthus aculeatus from the Solomon Islands Inthe key to the species of Rhinecanthus (p 3914ndash3915) R aculeatus and Rhinecanthus verrucosusare distinguished at couplet 4 on the basis ofpatterns of pigment and spiny projections onthe caudal peduncle According to the key (4b)the uppermost row of spiny projections in Raculeatus is much shorter than the lower tworows but this condition is illustrated for R ver-rucosus (Fig 14a) In the specimen of R aculea-tus examined and in the illustration of the spe-cies provided in the key (Fig 14b) the lower-

most row of spines is much shorter than theupper two rows but this condition is describedfor R verrucosus in 4a Couplet 4 works only ifthe descriptions of the rows of spines in 4a and4b are switched

In summary despite the few problems de-scribed above and likely many others undiscov-ered the guide is extremely helpful and havingcontemporary information for all marine bonyfishes of the western central Pacific in a singleseries of volumes probably reduced by at least75 the time needed to identify the 40 lots offishes examined Additionally several misiden-tifications of USNM specimens were correctedusing the new keys and several specimens notidentifiable using the new guide may representnew locality records or undescribed species Forexample an unidentified specimen of Dactylop-teridae from the Philippines warrants additionalinvestigation It has a dorsal spine about midwaybetween the elongate first spine and those inthe continuous part of the spinous dorsal finwhich takes one to couplet 3 (p 2284 Vol 4)Here the interorbital width of the specimen(approximately 17 SL) leads to couplet 4 (in-terorbital width 16ndash23 SL) which separatesDactyloptena gilberti and Dactyloptena papilio Nei-ther species is similar to the USNM specimenand neither is known from the Philippines Fol-lowing 3b (interorbital width 12ndash16) leads toDactyloptena orientalis and Dactyloptena macracan-tha Both species occur in the Philippines butthe former has a relatively shorter preopercularspine than the USNM specimen and the latterhas a very different pattern of pigment on thepectoral fin The unidentified specimen alsodoesnrsquot appear to be the deep-water Philippinespecies Dactyloptena tiltoni because it has two de-tached dorsal fin spines (vs one in D tiltoni)and the interorbital width in D tiltoni is only 13ndash14 SL The new guide also illuminated theneed to further study an unidentified Lutjanusfrom Indonesia and a Sphyraena from the Car-oline Islands

In view of the diversity of marine life in thewestern central Pacific the stated goal for thevolumes constitutes an enormous task andthere is no modern ichthyological work on Pa-cific fishes comparable in breadth to this newguide The editors were able to obtain submis-sions for the compilation from over 100 au-thors organize a workshop in the Philippinesfor testing the keys obtain reviews from two tofour peers for each section of the guide andsee the unabridged project to completion Theeditors should be commended for undertakingthe job and deserve the thanks of the biologicalcommunity for producing an invaluable re-

source for those studying or working with west-ern central Pacific marine life

The editors note that this guide is a lsquolsquofirst at-temptrsquorsquo (Vol 1 p iv) to compile comprehensiveinformation for identification of marine re-sources in the western central Pacific It is thisreviewerrsquos hope that the compilation ultimatelywill be taken as a starting point that authors ofchapters or other ichthyologists will check editappend to recheck and ultimately republish inthe future Both on its own and as a foundationfor future work this guide is remarkable

Dylan Fawcett Julie H Mounts Amie L Han-kins Jeffrey T Williams and Lynne R Parentiprovided helpful comments information or as-sistance for various aspects of this review How-ever opinions reflected herein are mine

CAROLE C BALDWIN Division of Fishes NationalMuseum of Natural History Smithsonian Insti-tution Washington DC 20560-0159 E-mailbaldwincarolenmnhsiedu

CORAL REEF FISHES DYNAMICS AND DI-VERSITY IN A COMPLEX ECOSYSTEM PeterF Sale (ed) 2002 Academic Press San DiegoCalifornia ISBN 0-12-615185-7 549 p $9995(hardback)mdashEleven years after publication oflsquolsquoThe Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefsrsquorsquo Salehas edited another book on coral-reef fish ecol-ogy It is not a revised edition of his first bookbut rather one with new emphases however itstill has a strong Australian flavor with 11 of its19 chapters by authors with significant Austra-lian experience There are a total of 30 contrib-utors with 2580 citations 60 of which arefrom 1990 or later Sale stated that his intentionwas to produce a book lsquolsquothat would speak tograduate students to scientists in the field toreef managers and others interested in coralreefs and to the wider ecological and scientificcommunityrsquorsquo (p xiii) I believe that he has methis goal and can easily see this book being usedas a text in graduate seminars

The book is divided into four sections eachwith 4ndash5 chapters lsquolsquoReef fishes a diversity ofadaptations and specializationsrsquorsquo lsquolsquoReplenish-ment of reef fish populations and communi-tiesrsquorsquo lsquolsquoDynamics of reef fish populations andcommunitiesrsquorsquo and lsquolsquoManagement of coral reeffishesrsquorsquo

The focus in chapter 1 (Bellwood and Wain-wright) is on biogeographic and ecological pat-terns how they arose and their consequences

215BOOK REVIEWS

Included is a thorough discussion of the hy-potheses relating to the Indo-Australian Archi-pelago as a center of origin In chapter 2 Wain-wright and Bellwood consider how morphologyinfluences ecology behavioral performance andits relation to ecological patterns phylogenetichypotheses in ecomorphology and feedingmechanisms in fishes In chapter 3 Choat andRobertson argue for the importance of devel-oping an age-based demography of coral-reeffishes and then present a thorough review ofthe various methods of determining age anddiscuss various age-related hypotheses JonesCaley and Munday point out in chapter 4 theimportance of explaining rare species They re-view for the first time the relationship betweenrange and abundance and also examine bodysize specialization and dispersal ability as fac-tors explaining rarity A reoccurring problemfound throughout this book first surfaces hereIn examining geographic distribution the au-thors look at only five families and only one forpatterns of abundance because data are avail-able only for those taxa Chapter 5 by Petersenand Warner presents a good review of the evo-lution of social and mating systems in coral-reeffishes covering population density mate choiceand fitness fertilization success timing and lo-cation of spawning and hermaphroditism con-cluding with a discussion of what they call ap-plied behavioral ecology relating that topic tomanagement questions

All of the chapters in Section II on replenish-ment have something to do with that topic how-ever some at first glance may seem peripheralChapter 6 by Myrberg and Fuiman on lsquolsquoThe sen-sory world of coral reef fishesrsquorsquo is one such chap-ter but it provides information on what sensorymechanisms may be used by larval fishes in find-ing reef habitat and is an excellent up-to-datereview of sensory modes in fishes covering vi-sion acoustical and lateral line systems andelectrosensory and chemosensory capabilitiesChapter 7 lsquolsquoLarval dispersal and retention andconsequences for population connectivityrsquorsquo byCowen covers how physical factors influencelarval movement at various scales Chapter 8 byLeis and McCormick focuses on recent researchon the pelagic stages of coral-reef fishes dis-cussing larval survival swimming abilities andorientation mechanisms They also examine dis-persal and retention settlement timing andhabitat selection pointing out that most settle-ment studies are really of recruits and that theremay be postsettlement redistribution Chapter 9by Planes is entitled lsquolsquoBiogeography and larvaldispersal inferred from population genetic anal-ysisrsquorsquo Planes reviews the various markers that

can be used and provides a good discussion ofthe advantages and disadvantages of each Headdresses the center of origin controversy statesthat there is no consensus from molecular dataand ends by presenting new challenges includ-ing determining whether groups of settling lar-vae are related Planes presents data on geneticdifferences between larvae and juveniles fromthe same cohort suggesting selection at the lar-val stage The final chapter (10) in this sectionby Jones and McCormick moves the emphasisaway from single-theory factors in relation todiscussions of density-dependent versus density-independent factors After reviewing many stud-ies they conclude lsquolsquoYou cannot escape the con-clusion that any attempt to formulate generalmodels even today will be prematurersquorsquo (p237) This is certainly true because only a fewspecies have been studied and most of theseare damselfishes Again we are faced with theproblem of research on one family being ex-trapolated to other coral-reef fishes

Section III dealing with dynamics of popu-lations and communities opens with a verygood overview of the techniques used in agingfishes and their applications (chapter 11 byThorrold and Hare) Chapter 12 is a short dis-cussion of energetics by Harmelin-Viven who ar-gues that high diversity on coral reefs is partlyrelated to higher temperatures and to more ef-ficient use and transfer of energy from low-qual-ity food resources such as sponges algae etcChapter 13 by Forrester Vance and Steele fo-cuses on whether the experimental studies vir-tually all lsquolsquodone on habitat patches smaller thana coffee tablersquorsquo (p 275) and for very short timeperiods can be scaled up to apply to larger ar-eas They used computer simulations to con-clude that local density-dependent events do af-fect population dynamics at larger scales Theyhave however based their simulations on stud-ies of a single Atlantic goby species I applaudthem for using something other than damsel-fishes but one must question whether a gobyfrom an area with much lower goby diversity isrepresentative of what is happening in the Indo-Pacific Ocean They conclude by saying lsquolsquoIfhowever gobies and damselfishes are goodmodels for understanding groupers and snap-pers then our models ought to predict rsquorsquo (p300) Chapter 14 by Hixon and Webster is a re-view of many local and small population studieson density dependence presenting tables sum-marizing findings in relation to recruitment andmortality concluding that recruitment is not aconsistent source of demographic density de-pendence and lsquolsquothat postsettlement mortality isoften density dependent especially shortly after

settlement and caused largely by predation rsquorsquo (p 321) They also recognize that damsel-fishes lsquolsquoare disproportionately represented inTables 1 amp 2rsquorsquo (p 325) and recommend greaterbreadth of taxonomic coverage In the lastchapter (15) in this section Doherty gives agood review of paradigm evolution over the past30 years leading to the recruitment bandwagonand then says that lsquolsquoto suggest that recruitmentcan be a major determinant of spatial and tem-poral patterns in fish populations is not to denythat these populations can be regulatedthrough different mechanisms operating at oth-er times and placesrsquorsquo (p 327) and lsquolsquorecruitmentlimitation is simply one extreme in a continuumof responses to variable replenishmentrsquorsquo (p351) As has been the case for topics reviewedin other chapters the studies relating to the im-pacts of variable recruitment are based on fewspecies with several from temperate areas

The final section (IV) deals with managementof coral-reef fishes Chapter 16 by Sale is whathe calls his mea culpa saying that academicsshould not stay cloistered and that they shouldlsquolsquosit at the tablersquorsquo where management goals pol-icies and practices are developed In his wordslsquolsquothe thesis here is that environmental and fish-eries management protocols have been devel-oped for tropical coastal systems without asmuch real attention to the structure and dy-namics of the ecological systems impacted asthere should have beenrsquorsquo (p 361) Chapter 17by Levin and Grimes reviews the status and re-search on groupers including their features ofsex change and aggregations at spawning sitesSadovy and Vincent address issues of trade inlive reef fishes in Chapter 18 pointing out thatlsquolsquoThese are high value-to-volume fisheries forluxury markets often focused on species withlife histories unsuited to heavy exploitationrsquorsquo (p391) This chapter provides insight into an im-portant and worrisome fishery Finally in Chap-ter 19 Russ presents a review of marine reservesas reef fishery management tools covering theliterature since 1990 He concludes that currentevidence supporting the view that marine re-serves increase density average sizeage bio-mass and reproductive output appears to bemore equivocal than other recent reviews havesuggested but says that because of extensiveoverfishing in developing nations marine re-serves should be developed

Should you add this book to your library Def-initely Sale has done an excellent job of bring-ing coral-reef fish biologists up to date andclearly outlining future directions for study

DAVID W GREENFIELD Department of Zoology Uni-

versity of Hawaii 2538 The Mall Honolulu Ha-waii 96822 E-mail greenfiehawaiiedu

FISHES OF LAOS Maurice Kottelat 2001WHT Publications (Pte) Ltd Colombo SriLanka ISBN 955-9114-25-5 198 p 105 SwissFrancs [approx $60] (hardcover) availableonly from the author at Route de la Baroche12 Case Postale 57 CH-2952 Coronal Switzer-landmdashLaos is a landlocked country drainedprimarily by left bank tributaries of the middleMekong River along with several rivers that orig-inate in the Laotian highlands and flow throughVietnam on their way to the Gulf of TonkinBecause of its location Laos has a fish faunathat is nearly exclusively fresh water in originsupplemented by species of predominantly ma-rine families that are restricted to freshwaterand a few euryhaline species that traverse theMekong delta and Cambodian portion of thatriver

This book apparently the first attempt tocompile a comprehensive listing of the fishes ofLaos is composed of two parts The first partentitled lsquolsquohow to use this bookrsquorsquo is written inthe style of an entry-level textbook in ichthyol-ogy Included in this section are instructions onthe use of dichotomous keys collection andpreservation techniques for fishes and basicfish anatomy Also discussed are basic taxonomythreats to the fish fauna from factors such aspollution deforestation introduction of non-native fishes and illegal and unwise fishing ac-tivities It is apparent that the first part of thebook is intended for an audience of interestedLao people for whom this book may be theironly source of information on the mentionedtopics (a separate edition of this book was pub-lished in Lao [M Kottelat pers comm]) Whatis sadly lacking from this section is any infor-mation on the geography hydrology of Laos ora history of our knowledge of the Laotian fishfauna It is only on the back of the dust jacketfor example that one learns that the numberof species of fishes known from Laos increasedfrom 210 in 1975 to the 481 recorded in thisbook A reader interested in knowing moreabout the Mekong River basin and its geologicand biogeographic history can find some of thatinformation instead in the introduction in Rain-both (1996)

The second part of the book consists of spe-cies accounts of fishes known or expectedfrom Laos Each species account consists of a

217BOOK REVIEWS

diagnosis distributional summary and list ofreferences significant to the presence of thespecies in Laos Some accounts also include oth-er scientific names by which the species hasbeen reported in Laos and where needed re-marks on the species Color photographs of re-cently preserved specimens collected intoplates are presented for all but a few species(those lacking photographs are instead repre-sented by drawings) and significant anatomicaldetails are rendered as line drawings placedwithin the text

The diagnosis of each species is presented ina unique method that is quite useful in efficient-ly conveying the significance of the characterinformation Each list of diagnostic characters ispreceded by a phrase that delimits the taxo-nomic and in most cases the geographic limitsfor which the character comparisons are usefulIn most cases the phrase used is lsquolsquoDistin-guished from other species of the genus in Laosbyrsquorsquo but for a number of species especiallythose belonging to monotypic genera or specio-se genera other limits are cited Character state-ments that follow are coded to indicate whethera particular character is unique within the com-pared taxa (closed circles) or is only diagnosticin combination with other characters (open cir-cles) The resulting diagnosis is brief but clearlyexpresses the effort necessary to confirm anidentification Species distributions are usuallyreported as river basins and refer not just to itsdistribution within Laos but to the entire distri-bution of the species For Lao endemics withrestricted distributions individual rivers are list-ed For many species information is also pro-vided on the substrate andor current condi-tions in which the species is encountered

The taxonomy presented in this book in-cludes a number of names not in wide usageKottelat wisely did not attempt to explain thechanges here and instead justified the correc-tions elsewhere (eg Kottelat 2000) Whereneeded previously used names are listed eitherin a section of the species account called lsquolsquoin-valid namesrsquorsquo or as a parenthetical commentthat follows a cited reference Previously usednames are included in the bookrsquos index whichfacilitates locating the currently recognizedname for the species Names for several gobiidsand one odontobutitid that are attributed tolsquolsquoChen and Kottelat 2001rsquorsquo are at the time thatthis review is being written not yet availableThe names which also appear in Kottelatrsquos

book on freshwater fishes of northern Vietnam(Kottelat 2001) as lsquolsquoin pressrsquorsquo are not madeavailable in this book by virtue of a disclaimeron the copyright page However important itmay have seemed to include the names in thisbook the author should not have succumbedto the temptation of using unavailable namesand should instead have used one of the manyconventions available for formally identifyingunnamed species These still-unavailable namesare already being incorporated into the litera-ture such as the Catalog of Fishes database (Es-chmeyer 2002) with at least one name erro-neously listed as available

Keys to genera are provided for most familiesrepresented by more than one genus A key isalso provided to the families of catfishes but isnotably absent for the remaining families I findthe absence of a more comprehensive key to thefamilies along with the above-mentioned lackof introductory information on Laotian geog-raphy and ichthyology to be the most disap-pointing omissions of the book It seems incon-gruous that the targeted reader is provided withbasic information such as methods of capturingand preserving fishes as well as the mechanicsof a dichotomous key but that same reader isexpected to be able to recognize without assis-tance most of the 50 families of fishes found inLao waters

Aside from the concerns expressed above Ifind this book to be a valuable contribution toour knowledge of the ichthyology of Laos andindeed all of Southeast Asia Books such as thisare essential building blocks for a broad under-standing of Asian fishes and efforts to producevolumes of comparable quality are to be ap-plauded I thank R P Vari and E O Murdy forcritiquing an earlier version of this review

LITERATURE CITED

ESCHMEYER W E 2002 Catalog of fishes online vers12 Nov 2002 California Academy of Sciences SanFrancisco (httpwwwcalacademyorgresearchichthyologycatalogfishcatsearchhtml)

KOTTELAT M 2000 Notes on taxonomy nomencla-ture and distribution of some fishes of Laos JSouth Asian Nat Hist 583ndash90

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Freshwater fishes of northern VietnamWorld Bank Washington DC

RAINBOTH W J 1996 FAO species identification fieldguide for fishery purposes Fishes of the Cambo-dian Mekong FAO Rome

CARL J FERRARIS JR 2944 NE Couch Street Port-land Oregon 97232 E-mail cferrarismsncom

NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLES A NATURAL HISTORY

VERTEBRATE FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY HORIZON OF RESEARCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY

FAO SPECIES IDENTIFICATION GUIDE FOR FISHERY PURPOSES THE LIVING MARINE RESOURCES OF THE WESTERN CENTRAL PACIFIC

CORAL REEF FISHES DYNAMICS AND DIVERSITY IN A COMPLEX ECOSYSTEM

FISHES OF LAOS