Marine Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast

by Lionel A. Walford

[University of California Press, $5.00]

Marine Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast should fill a vacant space on the library shelves of thousands of active sportsmen, armchair anglers, and naturalists both amateur and professional. Although the army of salt-water anglers has enlisted a phenomenal number of recruits within recent years, a convenient and authoritative reference volume for the identification of game fishes has heretofore been lacking.

Within the field it covers. Marine Game Fishes is comprehensive and comprehensible. The book is based largely on the results of a two months’ cruise of the yacht Haida in Mexican waters, during which five skillful and apparently tireless anglers provided a constant supply of material for the three ‘scientificos’ — the author, an artist, and a photographer.

Dr. Walford’s extensive experience in scientific research with the California Division of Fish and Game qualifies him to speak with authority on his subject. While his primary purpose is to provide information, he has produced a volume that is extremely readable as well. Under such headings as ‘distribution,’ ‘food,’ ‘habits,’ and ‘angling notes’ are included — so far as they are known all the facts which the angler who has normal curiosity about his catches will demand. This wealth of natural-history data broadens the field of readers to whom the book will appeal. There are none of the reminiscences of angling experiences or doses of fisherman’s philosophy which so often must be swallowed along with the real meat of other books on angling. The handsome format should make it a welcome addition to any library.

The illustrations are an outstanding feature. Forty-two photographs in natural color by Ralph Emerson provide a striking display. The fifteen paintings by Link Malmquist are executed with great skill. In the interest of accuracy even these were drawn from photographs and colored from living specimens. Numerous wash drawings and black-and-white sketches complete the illustrative material.

Dr. Walford has revised the standard keys into a system the operation of which is amazingly simple, completely painless, and at the same time beyond scientific reproach. With access to those keys, identification of a fish can be, as the author claims, ‘as entertaining as solving a crossword puzzle’ — an achievement which in itself amply justifies the existence of the book.

RACHEL L. CARSON