The following contribution is from Dr. Hiroyuki Tanaka, a well known expert on reef wrasses and an avid collector of all reef fish books
Guide des poisons de Tahiti et ses Iles is a new excellent guide book to fishes of Tahiti and adjacent waters for average divers and fishermen. The book covers reef & shore fishes of the French Polynesia in the southeastern corner of the Oceania, including the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Marquesas Islands, the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands and Rapa (the Pitcairn Islands and Easter Island are excluded). The authors have dived and photographed almost all the species that include rare or unfamiliar species found in the area. It is a concise but rather heavy book that includes over 1020 underwater color fish photos, and several shots of sceneries and aquarium specimens.
Most species covered in the book are wide-ranging in the West Pacific and/or in the Indian Ocean, but there are some unique fishes that cannot be seen in any other locality in the whole world. These endemic species : Pseudanthias hiva, P. regalis, P. mooreanus, Apogon lativittatus, Mulloidichthys mimicus, Chaetodon smithi, Genicanthus spinus, Paracirrhites nidus, Chromis abrupta, C. flavapicis, C. pamae, Dascyllus strasburgi, Plectroglyphidodon sagmarius, Coris hewetti, C. marquesensis, Pseudolabrus torotai, Stethojulis marquesensis, Scarus koputea, Alticus simplicirrus, Amblyeleotris marquesensis, Stenogobiops medon, Trimma woutsi, Acanthurus reversus, and Canthigaster marquesensis, and more are lavishly illustrated in color.
Also striking photos of some of living individuals of a butterflyfish Hemitaurichthys multispinosus and a wrasse Labropsis polynesia (terminal phase) are published for the first time as far as I know. In addition it illustrates the color forms of the well-known Chaetodon tinkeri and Centropyge loriculus. Majority of these species were described by Dr. Randall and colleague in 1990s and 2000s, and several additional undetermined (probably new to science) species are introduced in this guide. Juveniles and females are shown if necessary. The text is shorter: the size, depth range, distribution in the area, etc. of each species are briefly narrated. The distribution is shown in abbreviation(s), but you need a detailed map to know accurately where they occur in the area. It could be a very good companion volume to Dr. Randall’s large format book “Reef & Shore Fishes of the South Pacific” (2005). If you have a chance to get this small but useful guide you should not hesitate to decide to purchase it, for it is never commonly available in the book trade.
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