Saltwater fish subject of professor's book

"The Ecology of Marine Fishes," Cal State Northridge biology department chair Larry Allen's monumental new reference work on the fishes that inhabit the eastern Pacific-especially those in the waters off the California and Baja California coastlines-is making waves as a first-of-its-kind achievement summarizing a century of research.  

Described as "a masterful accomplishment" by Peter Sale, a University of Windsor professor and an international authority on communities of fish in coral reef habitats, Allen's book is expected to earn a place as the primary text in university-level fish biology courses, and to serve as a cornerstone for future research in the field.

"It's written by people who are passionate about such issues as global warming and the effects it will have if we don't stop it," said Allen of the work, a nearly 700page compendium of studies by 36 eminent ecologists, evolutionary biologists and ichthyologists, published in February by the University of California Press.  

"It's the first of its kind dealing with California and adjacent waters, and it's about 30 years overdue," said Allen, whose coeditors are biology professors Daniel Pondella II of Occidental College and Michael Horn of CSU Fullerton. "During those 30 years, scientists have learned a tremendous amount about the ecology and behavior of marine fishes worldwide, but particularly in California."

In its interpretation of the status-past, present and future-of the California coastline's 500plus species, the Allen-PondellaHorn collaboration compiles "virtually all the many important studies on the ecology of California marine fishes," according to another marine biology luminary, Bruce Collette of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Collette is past president of the 93-yearold American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, whose membership includes the crme de la crme of scientists who study fishes, amphibians and reptiles.