Best Baja Fish Guides

Continuing on with my best guides to Baja are the guides nearest and dearest to my heart - the critter guides!

Fish Guides:
1) Reef Fish Identification: Baja to Panama This one isn't first on my list just because it has a few of my photos in it... but it doesn't hurt! The Baja to Panama edition of Paul Humann's Reef Fish series also contains more easy to use pretty pictures and concise descriptions than any other reference I am aware of. It is a very good work although I do find the organization a little frustrating - it's by general shape / color etc, rather than by family. I think this probably more of a pet peeve of mine and I can see how it would be useful for most individuals wanting to ID a fish.

2) Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez: The Rocky-Shore Fishes of the Gulf of California This work is THE bible for ichthyologists working in the Sea of Cortez! My first trip into Baja (1992) was with two of the authors, Thomson and Kerstitch, for 5 weeks. Their guidance and friendship is what inspired me to continue along my chosen path. When we first traveled in 1992, the first edition was out of print and we were working from photocopied pages in a ziplock, but the new second edition is out and has been expanded with many new sections. It's not a lightweight guide, but it goes into the marine fishes of the region like no other.

3) Sea of Cortez Marine Animals: A Guide to the Common Fishes and Invertebrates Baja California to Panama This guide is quite the opposite of the first two. It is indeed lightweight, covering only the most common organisms, both fish and invertebrates. For a casual scuba diver or snorkeler wishing to find out the name of a critter that they have encountered, it is generally sufficient and is well illustrated to boot.