Nineteenth-century scientist David Starr Jordan built one of the most important fish specimen collections ever seen, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake shattered his life's work.

Considered a classic guide to fish classification and identification, it is the only book which uses recent findings in arranging all major fish groups worldwide. Covers 445 families in which over 21,700 species of living fishes are recognized. Adopts a synthetic approach to classification and presents groups in evolutionary order. This edition updates all families to reflect progress and changes in the field.