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Review of Reef Fishes of the East Indies. Volumes I–III.

Article in Copeia · October 2013

DOI: 10.1643/OT-13-010

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Luiz A Rocha
California Academy of Sciences
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 BOOK REVIEWS
Copeia 2013, No. 3, 567–571
information is available for that particular group. Species
descriptions are short but informative, containing most of
the necessary information to identify the species. Common
Reef Fishes of the East Indies. Volumes I–III. Gerald R.
names are not listed, as the book covers an area where
Allen and Mark V. Erdmann. 2012. Tropical Reef Research,
hundreds of languages are spoken. Most of the illustrations
Perth, Australia. ISBN: 978-0-9872600-0-0. 1,292 p. $249.00
are underwater photographs, and this is where the work
(hardcover).—The region between the Andaman Sea, south-
really shines. The photography is of the highest quality, and
western Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines,
many species are illustrated for the first time in live
collectively known as the East Indies, harbors some of the
coloration. Drawings and photos of preserved specimens
most diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the
are still present for some rare or very cryptic species, such as
planet. As many as 4,000 species of marine fishes can be
Bamboo Sharks, Snake Eels, and Brotulas. However, species
found in the area, of which approximately 2,600 are
like those are a minority, and in total there are more than
associated with shallow coral reefs. These books include
3,600 color photographs illustrating the species accounts,
detailed accounts of 2,631 species of coral reef fishes
distributed among 120 families, and represent the most many of which have multiple photos illustrating different
comprehensive treatment of this important fauna since color phases and/or life stages.
Weber and de Beaufort’s (1911–1962) work, which was If I can find one fault in this section, it is the use of outdated
largely based on Bleeker (1862–1878). Gerald Allen and taxonomy. The Epinephelidae (groupers, fairy basslets, and
Mark Erdmann, authors of the three-volume Reef Fishes of soapfishes) were elevated to a family six years ago (Smith and
the East Indies, could not be better qualified to write these Craig, 2007), and this new classification scheme has been
books. Both spent most of their scientific careers based in or widely adopted (van Herwerden et al., 2009; Wainwright
around Indonesia, conducting fieldwork and describing et al., 2012); however, in Reef Fishes of the East Indies, groupers
hundreds of species from that region. are still treated as part of Serranidae. Similarly, evidence
The series starts with a 19-page introduction that indicates that parrotfishes should be considered a subfamily
familiarizes the reader with the East Indies both historically of Labridae, the Scarinae (Westneat and Alfaro, 2005), and
and geographically. Short sections (half to one page) are this taxonomy has been widely accepted (Choat et al., 2012),
presented for every country in the region, and the authors but here the authors still treat the family Scaridae as valid.
highlight areas in need of research while also talking about However, these taxonomic inconsistencies do not take away
past collections. A well-written section about the zoogeog- from the very high scientific value of the book and can easily
raphy of the East Indies follows the introduction. Here the be corrected in future editions.
authors present the leading hypotheses to explain the high In addition to species accounts, there are two appendices:
biodiversity found in the area as well as a detailed Appendix I is 97 pages long and contains descriptions of 25
zoogeographical analysis of the fauna with the most current new species, which include a scorpionfish, an anthias, a
numbers for endemism. They also analyze the taxonomic dottyback, a cardinalfish, a threadfin, a butterflyfish, three
composition of the endemics and reach the interesting, but damselfishes, three wrasses, two sandperches, a sanddiver,
not surprising, conclusion that most endemics are restricted two clingfishes, six gobies, and two dartfishes. Descriptions
to a few groups whose pelagic larval stage (the main mode of are between two and six pages long, and while most are by
dispersal in coral reef fishes) is relatively short or absent. An Allen and Erdmann, a few include other authors. Most
entire section of two pages is dedicated to Cenderawasih descriptions are based on morphology, but some also use
Bay, a small area in West Papua that harbors unusually high DNA evidence to support species identity, and for those the
endemism. The next section provides details about the authors also present phylogenetic trees based on molecular
biological aspects of coral reef fishes, including reproduc- characters. Even though descriptions were not peer re-
tion, ecology, and hybridization. viewed, the authors assured me that they were read and
The East Indian region is not only the home of the most corrected by experts in their respective groups. Overall,
diverse coral reefs in the world, but also of the most descriptions are very well done, and type specimens were
threatened. A four-page section describes some of the deposited at the Bishop Museum (Hawaii), the Museum
problems that those reefs and their fishes are facing, and Zoologicum Bogoriense (Indonesia), US National Museum
identifies habitat destruction, overfishing, pollution, and of Natural History, and Western Australian Museum.
climate change as the main threats. The section ends with Appendix II contains 14 species that were added to the
an uplifting message, giving examples of successful man- book after the initial pagination was done because they were
agement and conservation. This initial portion of the book either recently described or only recently recorded in the
ends with a short section on how to read the species area. A six-page glossary followed by the references cited and
accounts and five illustrations identifying the major exter- an index concludes this magnificent contribution to the
nal features of fishes, which are useful for identification. All ichthyology of Southeast Asia.
of these initial sections are illustrated with superb photog- In conclusion, the faults are minor and likely to be
raphy made by the authors and their collaborators. corrected in future printings, and the volumes are the most
The main portion of the set of three volumes (species complete treatment of this fauna to date, representing an
accounts) starts on page 42 and is 1,058 pages long. Every invaluable resource to any ichthyologist working in the East
major group (sharks, rays, bony fishes, and every family) is Indies. Additionally, because most of the species treated in
preceded by a general description that ranges from a few the books have a much wider distribution, this text is also
sentences to two pages long, depending on how much very useful for those studying reef fishes in adjacent areas.

F 2013 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists DOI: 10.1643/OT-13-010

568 Copeia 2013, No. 3

Unfortunately, because the coverage of the book is so

complete, the three volumes are large and heavy, which
makes it difficult to carry them to the field, where it would
be particularly useful. Perhaps a way to make this contribu-
tion even more useful would be to transform it into an
electronic app, like the one available for tropical Eastern
Pacific fishes by Robertson and Allen (2012). Despite the
bulk, these books still certainly qualify as a ‘‘must-have’’ for
anyone who works on, or is interested in, Indo-Pacific coral
reef fishes.

LITERATURE CITED
Bleeker, P. 1862–1878. Atlas ichthyologique des Indes
Orientales Neerlandaise. Vols. I–IX. De Breuk and Smits,
Leiden.
Choat, J. H., S. E. Klanten, L. Van Herwerden, D. R.
Robertson, and K. D. Clements. 2012. Patterns and
processes in the evolutionary history of parrotfishes
(family Labridae). Biological Journal of the Linnean
Society 107:529–557.
Robertson, D. R., and G. R. Allen. 2012. Shorefishes of the
Tropical Eastern Pacific. Available on iTunes for iPhone
and iPad, Version 2.1.
Smith, W. L., and M. T. Craig. 2007. Casting the perco-
morph net widely: the importance of broad taxonomic
sampling in the search for the placement of serranid and
percid fishes. Copeia 2007:35–55.
van Herwerden, L., J. H. Choat, S. J. Newman, M. Leray,
and G. Hillersoy. 2009. Complex patterns of population
structure and recruitment of Plectropomus leopardus (Pisces:
Epinephelidae) in the Indo-West Pacific: implications for
fisheries management. Marine Biology 156:1595–1607.
Wainwright, P. C., W. L. Smith, S. A. Price, K. L. Tang, J. S.
Sparks, L. A. Ferry, K. L. Kuhn, R. I. Eytan, and T. J.
Near. 2012. The evolution of pharyngognathy: a phylo-
genetic and functional appraisal of the pharyngeal jaw key
innovation in labroid fishes and beyond. Systematic
Biology 61:1001–1027.
Weber, M., and L. F. de Beaufort. 1911–1962. The Fishes of
the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Vols. 1–11. E. J. Brill,
Leiden.
Westneat, M. W., and M. A. Alfaro. 2005. Phylogenetic
relationships and evolutionary history of the reef fish
family Labridae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
36:370–390.

Luiz A. Rocha, Assistant Curator and Follett Chair of

Ichthyology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music
Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
94118; E-mail: LRocha@calacademy.org.

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