#fish books

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Have I mentioned my love for old textbooks and fish books?

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Here is my current collection of fish books with drawn pictures. I'm in love with these! 💙

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I thought this was interesting

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I am still thinking of how much zoology-related content to put in my opening chapters. The Interpet books from the 1970s used to tell us basic science, as a preamble before the main, photographic guide; the chapters in question were lavishly illustrated with colored, line art diagrams, that catch the eye even today. Interpet guides not only fueled my interests as a youthful aquarist, when I was aged about ten; they also stimulated my interest in graphic design.

Another book that has inspired me is the famous 'You And Your Aquarium'; another 80s classic that still stands out today. It was published by the famous Dorling Kindersley publishing house, and despite its age - it was first published in the middle of the 1980s! - it still holds up as an introduction to aquariums today. This book has more text than is usual, about tangentical matters such as reef and river ecology.

In my experience, people who like fish like to learn about them, and I am basically trying to offer a new generation of readers, the sort of book I found I spiring when I were around ten years old. But with more zoological and ecological content than a standard aquarium book - I should hope the published work be seen, not only as an aquarium book, but as a serious piece of natural history - something for the coffee table and the bookshelf, suitable for adults and older children.

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As a child I grew to be very fond of the Interpet series of pet care manuals. Like Usborne and Dorling Kindersley imprints, they not only stimulated me with their subject matter, such as tropical fishes and aviary birds, but with their wonderful graphic design. It looks good to have a set of books on one's shelf, that just 'go together', especially when the content is useful, and the pages are beautiful.

As an example of the series, I will examine Livebearing Fishes by Peter W. Scott. To look at the cover, this is the 1999 print run, but the book was first published earlier. The volume is a great introduction to the format of this series, and how the books could blend together basic, entry level how-to, with more esoteric information.

The livebearers as a group of fishes, are best known through four kinds of fishes, that have been selectively bred, into a diversity of color and finnage morphs - the (common or southern) platy and the (green) swordtail of the genus Xiphophorus, the guppy or Lebistes reticulata, and the mollies of the genus Mollienisia. All of these fishes share an ancient, hypothetical common ancestor, a poecilid toothcarp that had already transitioned first to internal fertilization, and then to viviparity.

Although the disparity among the domesticated strains of these species, does not match that among the goldfishes, or certain other domesticated species such as the dog, their diversity is nonetheless remarkable, as is well illustrated by a page featuring guppies. Were these morphs naturally occurring, rather than developed by the hand of man, they would surely not all be regarded as conspecifics.

Human agency has removed the pressure from dangerous natural predators, that eat visible little fish in their ancestral habitats, and intentionally controlled which fishes passed on their genes through generations. Charles Darwin well understood this sort of thing, and he called it, 'artificial selection'.

Many people would find it strange to regard any organically bred livestock as genetically engineered, but all of artificial selection is the technics of manipulating the future of organisms, by engineering their future heredity. The wild progenitor fishes slready possessed high enough genetic diversity, that the potentialities of their diverse descendants was already latent, but not expressed in the wild environment, because of natural selection.

The Interpet guides are not without informational content. In this color diagram, the pregnancies of two anablepids and a goodeid, are illustrated. Although both these clades of fish are relatively close relatives, they transitioned to viviparity independently. In fact their most recent common ancestors, did not even practice fertilization internally.

Livebearing or viviparity has actually evolved a few times among true fishes, and 'fish-like vertebrates' which would include the old pre-cladistic definition, which survived as the focus of ichthyology. A disproportionate number of the transitions, surprisingly enough, occur within one clade of fishes named the cyprinodonteans, and specifically their subclade, the cyprinodontoids, to which both goodeids and anablepids brlong.

The most recent common ancestors of these clades was not viviparous, nor did they even possess the prerequisite state of internal fertilization, without which the transition to viviparity would have been impossible. No one has ever really explained why only cypryinodontoids are so prone to evolve into livebearing fishes, when other fish are not.

Even among the poecilids, the clade including the most familiar livebearers in aquariums, viviparity evolved twice from a common ancestor that already possessed internal fertilization, although its babies developed externally, ie. oviparity. The sister clade to poecilids, are the anablepids, representing a third evolution of viviparity in this subclade alone.

Two other clades of cyprinodontoid fishes are known to have evolved vivipareity. One of them is the goodeines, the split-fin toothcarp. Split-fins are sisters to the oviparous genera Profundulus, Crenichthys, and Empetrichthys, all of them killifishes retaining the external fertilization of their more distant relatives.

A further evolution of viviparity among the cyprinodontoids, has occurred in a South American genus, Fluviphylax. Finally among the broader cyprinodontean clade, viviparity has also evolved once among the beloniforms, in the zenarchopterid halfbeaks.

As an aside, what exactly is a toothcarp? Goodeids and poecilids are both known as 'livebearing toothcarp', as are several oviparous cyprinodontoids. In fact fishes known as toothcarps, do not form a natural descent group within the cyprinodontoids, in the way that the pupfishes can be identified with the cyprinodontid clade. Sometimes a species can be identified as either, interchangeably, and a clade such as the goodeids may count both 'killifishes' and 'toothcarp' among its members.

In all I find it fair to say that 'toothcarp' and a related word, 'topminnow', are partial synonyms of 'killifish', and both refer to the cyprinodontoid clade of killifishes. The archetypal killifishes of the aplocheilid or aplocheiloid sister group, are never referred to as either, nor are the ricefishes, which are also traditionally killifishes, and are now regarded as basal beloniforms. So that all three of the major cyprinodontean subclades, include 'killifishes' among their members.

None of the species that are known as killifishes are viviparous, though some have internal fertilization, which they have evolved more than once, as a result of intensified competition between male fishes. Yet not all of the killifishes that are called toothcarps, are viviparous fishes.

The Interpet guides feature memorable diagrams, in this case showing how a breeding trap works. The evolution of pregnancy and penetrative sex in livebearing fishes, might remind us of ourselves, and other placental mammals.

But unlike mammals, the familiar livebearers are not among those species of fish, that guard or provide for their offspring after partuition. Although carrying their offspring internally for a prolonged period, is a significant parental investment by the mother.

Because newly born livebearers fit into the mouths of their parents, there is a real risk of cannibalism in these fish species. Breeding traps are designed and manufactured to reduce the danger, by allowing the vulnerable newborns to find safety where their hungry parents cannot teach them.

Domesticated livebearers are among the easiest of all tropical fishes to keep, but their prolific reproduction can be problematic when the males and females are cohabited. Children are either fascinated or disturbed, when they see cute baby fishes eaten in the fish tank.

Livebearers are not only guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails. The genus Anableps is an estuarine fish that has evolved to hunt at the surface of the water. Technically it has only one pair of eyes, exactly as we do, excepting that Anableps can simultaneously watch both above and below the water surface. It would have been very easy for Interpet simply to feature captive bred livebearer morphs, but these guides can be so much more

The halfbeaks are a taxonomically confusing assemblage of fishes, sharing an I testing craniofacial morphology. It is still not certain exactly how they are related to their relatives, the predatory clade of gars or needlefishes with their saury sisters, and the gliding exocets.

Not all halfbeaks are viviparous, but all of the viviparous halfbeaks belong to a natural or monophyletic clade. Again, it would have been easy to overlook the halfbeaks, in a book about viviparous aquarium fishes, simply because they are such oddballs.

The major clade of poecilid livebearers is not merely covered as domesticated breeds, either. Not considered often by most aquarists, are a diversity of wild poecilid species and genera. Some of these, such as Phallichthys, are also featured in the Interpet guide, right after a sampling of the split-fin livebearers.

Among other content, the Interpet guide touches upon wild members of the genera Poecilia (using a consensus, overly broad definition) and Xiphophorus. There is gene flow and interfertility between different species assigned to Xiphophorus, both in the wild and in the aquarium. Some described species are recognized by some authors, yet dismissed as hybrids by others. In all it's a book with surprising content, given it's low price, and Introductory nature.

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The marine fishkeeping hobby has existed for quite a long time, but the modern reef aquarium only exists because of recent, technological innovations. These inventions were only available and affordable from the later 1990s, or even later than that, and brought with them a shift in saltwater aquarium retail. Nowadays the emphasis has long been on gardening live corals, and small, colorful fishes such as the chromis, the cardinalfishes, and the dottybacks. Such aquaria were much more difficult in earlier decades of the hobby, and the emphasis was instead on much larger fishes.

One book representing the era, is Marine Tropical Fish, an entry in the Bartholomew Pet Care Series, which is penned by one Ken Dunham, was first printed in 1977 before seeing reprints in the following decade. From the perspective of the modern marine aquarist, much would appear to be missing. Not only most of the ornamental, sessile invertebrates, but also entire clades of fishes that are so ubiquitous in reef tanks today.

Not uniquely for British aquarium books as late as the 1990s, the text or only features mention of tropical species, but also indigenous marine fauna, such as small blennies and gobies. The author tells us when to collect them from the wild shore, so as to avoid overcrowded beaches. In fact the reason there isn't much of a coldwater.marinr aquarium trade, is because our room temperatures get too high, and the small water volumes in our aquariums are not large enough to buffer their ectothermic denizens from overheating. Native marine tanks are fascinating and subtly beautiful, but require either an expensive or DIY chilling system, unless they are positioned in a space where the air temperature is consistently low enough. One also needs to know beforehand, enough of the biology of the organisms that are being collected. For they have different temperature tolerances, substrate preferences, and feeding habits.

Brackish natural waters are defined by their sub-marine salinity, but their salt content qualifies them as saltwater all the same, and many brackish fishes that live in estuaries, actually belong to a marine faunal component in those admixed habitats. Not all fishes found in estuaries can or should be kept in 100% or nearly 100% seawater. But those sea fishes that can live permanently in estuaries, are robust species in the aquarium. The author represents these fishes with the target bass, which is one of the grunters, and a scat species.

Nowadays the damselfishes are not often traded, apart from the charming clownfishes and the small, gregarious planktivores. On the whole, the other damselfishes are considered too pugnacious to cohabit with other small reef fishes, often having boisterous, territorial natures similar to those of many freshwater cichlids. In the past this strangely added to their appeal, for they could hold their own against fishes larger than themselves. I should also add that, although it's not often remarked upon, a number of damselfishes are now known to consume coral tissues.

In the 1970s to 1990s the seahorses and other pipefish were regarded as difficult to care for, despite being widely traded for their popular appeal. For some reason they had a reputation for being difficult to feed in the home aquarium, not least as requiring feedings of live prey. This is nonsense, members of this clade happily accept defrosted items as they are blown by the current through the water. They certainly do not need to consume tiny live fishes, and they are remarkably easy in our tanks, even using the more limited range of aquarium technology that was already around in 1977.

The pages on wrasse demo strate quite well the shifting focus of the saltwater hobby. Nowadays aquarists will presumably think of small, reef safe species, such as flasher wrasse, pyjama wrasse, and canary wrasse. But this is an artifact of the boom in coral aquariums. In past decades such small wrasse, however beautiful or intriguing, were not usually labelled with any accuracy when they were retailed.

The focus back then was almost entirely on big, bold wrasse species, and unfortunately on the cleaner fishes of the genus Labroides, especially the iconic L. dimidiatus. Cleaner wrasse do not ship very well and usually have short lifespans on arrival, though they are not otherwise jard to care for, and should not be avoided in a long term captive can be rehomed. Nowadays the export of these wrasse is rightly regarded as unethical, but in those days these fish were exported as a staple of the aquarium trade, and most of them tragically died after purchase.

Triggerfishes and similarly sized fishes, such as big angelfishes, are nowadays regarded as quite a niche interest. But in the past big, personable fish were much more often seen in dealers tanks one reason they declined in popularity is that they are not 'reef safe' with the spectrum of organisms, most aquarists want in their tanks. Before home coral gardens became the standard in saltwater aquariums, this was not really a concern. People would start a saltwater aquarium just to have one or two large, often colorful and vividly patterned fish in a large aquarium.

The disadvantage of using illustrations by traditional artists, rather than photographs, is that the reference images can be less than precise. Of course this isn't inherent to hiring artists, but in this book some people should have done their homework better. The image is supposedly of a long-spined or diademid sea urchin, but does not look like most people would draw them. It's just a generic image of a sea urchin, despite the labelling. Sea urchins with sharp spines are quite well defended from predator attack, and in the early days of the tropical marine hobby, they were the most commonly encountered algae grazers, after the tangs and blennies. And imports of neither blennies nor sea urchins were usually labelled with any serious effort - 'assorted blenny', 'assorted sea urchin'.

Strange as it might seem, corals were not a focus of the early trade in reef organisms. Again they were poorly labelled, and tended not to survive very long after arrival at retail. The care requirements of different corals and anemones, were very poorly understood even by marine biologists in the 1970s, and printed information in the hobbyist literature, the ded to be quite vague. Incidentally the featured picture of a sea anemone, does not even slightly resemble Stoichactis sp. or the carpet anemones.

Tiger cowries are infrequently imported these days, and the most often imported snails are surely algivorous top snails, small conches, ceriths, and small, scavenging whelks. In the past these animals were rarely or never imported, not least because many of them are not vividly colored, or of impressive size. But the beautiful tiger cowries fit the bill, and was often traded as an algae eater. In fact this species does not consume algae at all, it actually eats sessile animals, and it usually starved in home tanks.

Between 1977 and 2024, nearly half of a century has passed. In that time new technologies have become affordable as 'kit', and scientific knowledge of reef life has improved and reached ordinary aquarists. But the availability of commercial aquarium technologies developed and popularised in the USA, created not only a boom but slso a shift in consumer demand. It was a true revolution in the aquarium industry.

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