Abstract
IN a recent descriptive account of “The South African Marine Fishes of Commercial and Angling Importance” by J. M. Marchand (Dept. of Commerce and Industries: Fishery Bulletin No. 2), an attempt is made to provide a handbook for the convenience and use of persons interested in South African sea fishes from the commercial point of view, for sportsmen, arid for tea Chers of biology in South African schools. It is pointed out in the introduction to this work that it is “not intended for the pure scientist, and will be of small if any value to such individuals, due to the limited number of species dealt with, the total lack of classification keys and the brevity of the descriptions”. Owing to the brevity of the descriptions, much reliance will have to be placed on the photographic illustrations in making identifications of fishes not already known. This is most unfortunate, for the great majority are so lacking in detail as to be almost useless for this or any other purpose. Some of them, for example, the photograph of Raia clavata on p. 52 and of Arno-glossus pectoralis on p. 67, are little more than dark blotches on the paper. When, for any reason, detailed drawings cannot be used, simple but accurate outline sketches are infinitely preferable to poorly reproduced photographs for the illustration of a handbook of this kind.
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South African Marine Fishes. Nature 138, 796 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138796a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138796a0