Intertidal Fishes: Life in Two Worlds

Intertidal Fishes describes the fishes inhabiting the narrow strip of habitat between the high and low tide marks along the rocky coastlines of the world. It analyzes the specialized traits of these fishes that have adapted to living in the dynamic and challenging space where they are alternately exposed to the air and submerged in water with the ebb and flow of the tides. This book provides a comprehensive account of fishes largely overlooked in many previous studies of intertidal organisms and emphasizes how they differ from fishes living in other deeper-water habitats. Coverage includes air breathing, movements and homing, sensory systems, spawning and parental care, feeding habits, community structure, systematic relationships, distribution patterns, and the fossil record in the intertidal zone.

• Written by an international team of 21 experts on intertidal fish biology
• Worldwide coverage of intertidal fishes
• Comprehensive phylogenetic listing of all fish families with intertidal members
• Global biogeographic analysis involving over 700 species from 86 sites
• Outlines field and laboratory methods pertinent to studying intertidal fishes
• Thorough ecological coverage with chapters on vertical distribution, movements and homing, reproduction, feeding, and community structure
• Covers the physiology of aerial and aquatic respiration, osmoregulation, and sensory systems

The interface between marine and terrestrial ecosystems is among the most demanding, diverse, and productive of habitats. Numerous organisms occupy a narrow strip of ecologically fascinating habitat between high and low tides-from algae and flowering plants to hardy invertebrates and cryptic vertebrates. Common to all of these creatures are diverse solutions to the many challenges of life in constant daily change. Intertidal Fishes is the first authoritative volume by an international team of experts on the biology of fishes occupying this dynamic habitat. The book includes chapters on the ecology, behavior, physiology, systematics, biogeography, and fossil history of fishes living between the tidemarks.

Anyone interested in ichthyology, the biology of fishes, intertidal ecology, and coastal ecosystems will want this important book as a part of their library.

• Worldwide coverage of the intertidal fishes
• Comprehensive phylogenic listing of all fish families with intertidal members
• Global biogeographic analysis involving more than 700 species from over 80 sites
• Reviews field and laboratory methods pertinent to studying intertidal fishes
• Outlines the myriad physiological responses to an ever-fluctuating environment