Discovery of Australia’s Fishes: A History of Australian Ichthyology to 1930.

Abstract

BRIAN Saunders is a retired ophthalmologist with a lifetime interest in marine biology and the history of ichthyology. He has previously published Shores and Shallows of Coffin Bay: An Identification Guide, in 2009, revised in 2012. That work, in its revised edition, contains extensive figures and supplementary information on other ecological parameters such as fish parasites and the habitat of the Coffin Bay area. The current work is a much greater labour, which relies on a significant knowledge of the Australian fish fauna and extensive research of the scientific and historical literature. This volume is about the discovery of Australia’s fishes (to 1930) following the main systematic and taxonomic research in Australia with the inclusion of the pertinent discoveries from further afield in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. It treats only lightly the ichthyologic and Aboriginal lore, which is outside the intent and scope of the book.