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Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin still available


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#1 Guest_travishaas_*

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Posted 17 April 2011 - 09:36 PM

For anyone who didn't get a copy when it was still selling for a reasonable price (it's been awhile), I just discovered that new copies of Mettee et al.'s Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin are apparently still available from the Geological Survey of Alabama for $25 + $3.50 shipping. This is a steal, considering used copies on amazon.com are now going for over 3x that.

Ordering details can be found here.

#2 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 10:51 AM

I enjoy this book...
It helps me in Tennessee also, as well as on my Florida panhandle trips.

A motivational sidenote...
A friend told me that Fishes of Tennessee was going for $350 on the internet!
Is that true? I remember just a few years ago UTK was clearing out the first editions for something like $20. I missed that chance to get a 2nd mint copy. Though my single copy is signed by both authors the binding is falling apart and water stained throughout.

#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 01:27 PM

A friend told me that Fishes of Tennessee was going for $350 on the internet!
Is that true?

Yes, it is. The least expensive I'm seeing it going for is $70, and prices range well into the hundreds.

Our hobby is not something everyone enjoys. The pool of potential buyers for fish books is small. Publishing is really only profitable when large numbers of people buy the book or when each copy is sold for a large amount of money. But webpages are inexpensive to access. They can hold a larger amount of information than books can (or at least any book I want to carry around with me while I'm fishing). The Internet can host many color photos and also, something books are incapable of, videos. For these reasons, I think we should all try as much as possible to flesh out and add information to the native fish entries on websites like wikipedia and fish base. We should post videos of our fish on YouTube. All of these things help us have more information, and to share that information freely with people who maybe wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

My point is, don't buy these books. Or buy them, yes, because they're useful, but then go home and turn your computer on and add a paragraph and a picture to your favorite native fish's wikipedia page. Upload a video of your fish and tank to youtube. It would add so much information and help so much if every NANFA member just did a little bit. We wouldn't need these $350 identification books.

#4 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 01:28 PM

I enjoy this book...
It helps me in Tennessee also, as well as on my Florida panhandle trips.


I agree and it is also very useful in NW Georgia... because it covers "and the Mobile basin" they cover all of the drainages up there that go down to the Coosa and such... we used this book a lot a few weeks ago when we were in those drainages...
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#5 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 02:07 PM

We wouldn't need these $350 identification books.


I guess anyone can be an authority these days.

Todd

#6 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 02:49 PM

I guess anyone can be an authority these days.

Todd


two words... peer review....

I have gladly paid for Fishes of MS, OH, VA, TN, AL, AR, MO, SC, TX, LA, AL (the other one), Carolinas, VA, MD & DE (one book), Conasauga River, Okefenokee Swamp, Middle Savannah River Basin, Great Lakes, AL 1968, Great Lakes 1964, MS 1959, and my new favorite A Partial Synopsis of the Fishes of Upper Georgia 1876

Worth every penny on many different levels...

Oh, and both Peterson's... original and brand new!
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#7 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 02:57 PM

Oh hey - I don't have Josh Laerm's book on the Okefenokee - I did see parts of it when in was in progress. I had forgotten all about that one. Is it worth getting?

#8 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 03:19 PM

Oh hey - I don't have Josh Laerm's book on the Okefenokee - I did see parts of it when in was in progress. I had forgotten all about that one. Is it worth getting?

Well one place has it for $12.50 on line, so how can you go wrong... it is a little basic with pencil sketches for the fish pictures and just a couple of pages per species... but I like having it and have referred to it... it has good Habitat and Biology sections for each fish, especially if you are going to a swamp... and also lists a variety of really great common names... I mean you have to love a fish book that includes stumpknocker, shellcracker, dogfish, asshole perch, stick minnow, crawl-a-bottom, politician fish and grindle.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#9 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 03:36 PM

... and also lists a variety of really great common names... I mean you have to love a fish book that includes stumpknocker, shellcracker, dogfish, asshole perch, stick minnow, crawl-a-bottom, politician fish and grindle.


That sounds like Laerm through and through! He was a real character. I'm sure he made up some of those names.

I saw a few of the original drawings that were used in the book - they were extremely well done. Dunno how well they fared when reduced to book form.

Sounds like I got to get that one. And hey, it doesn't cost $350 either!

#10 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 06:29 PM

My point is, don't buy these books. Or buy them, yes, because they're useful, but then go home and turn your computer on and add a paragraph and a picture to your favorite native fish's wikipedia page. Upload a video of your fish and tank to youtube. It would add so much information and help so much if every NANFA member just did a little bit. We wouldn't need these $350 identification books.


A lot of these works are absolutely indispensable and any serious fish head should own them. With that being said, I started Wikipedia pages for E. blennioides and E. blennius that can be found at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia....i/Blenny_darter
http://en.wikipedia....reenside_darter

I also made over 100 pages of notes on North American percid phylogeny from Mayden's Systematics, Historical Ecology, and North American Freshwater Fishes and ~45 recent (>2000) publications, but I haven't gotten around to organizing it in a coherent fashion to add to Etheostoma species pages on Wikipedia (not to mention it would change as soon as I added it!). I did the same for salamanders in the U.S. -- oh, the wonderful things I did with my time last summer. Hopefully I can get around to adding this stuff sometime later in the year.

Edited by blakemarkwell, 18 April 2011 - 06:30 PM.


#11 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 06:44 PM

I prefer Boschung and Mayden's AL book, but it couldn't hurt to have both, especially at such a low price. The Mettee et al. book does have very nice (and huge!) range maps, and some nice photos. It's a bit skimpy on text, though.

Those darter pages are looking good, Blake! I've dropped the ball on the Darterbase, but I hope to get back to work on that. Are you still interested in contributing to it?

#12 Guest_sandtiger_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 07:16 PM

Yes, it is. The least expensive I'm seeing it going for is $70, and prices range well into the hundreds.


That is amazing. I bought that book maybe three years ago online for $20.00...maybe less? Glad I didn't miss that deal.

#13 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 08:18 PM

I agree and it is also very useful in NW Georgia... because it covers "and the Mobile basin" they cover all of the drainages up there that go down to the Coosa and such... we used this book a lot a few weeks ago when we were in those drainages...

Yes we did, for a trib of the Etowah system, north of Atlanta. First time my copy has been carried streamside, and we had a good hike to get there. Usually the hardback fish books stay in the fishicle for apres-stream reference.

I have never regretted buying a state fish book. I have regretted not buying two copies of some of them.

#14 Guest_Dustin_*

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Posted 19 April 2011 - 07:08 AM

I prefer Boschung and Mayden's AL book, but it couldn't hurt to have both, especially at such a low price. The Mettee et al. book does have very nice (and huge!) range maps, and some nice photos. It's a bit skimpy on text, though.


Bo and Mayden's book is a beautiful book with the Tomelleri drawings. I think it is probably the most precisely illustrated book available but not every fish is going to be caught in spawning colors. Some of the fish are shown in and out of color if I remember correctly but not many. I think the combo of Mettee's book with the Tomelleri drawings makes Alabama by far the best covered state literature wise in the country. I have been waiting to get this book for a reasonable price so I will be ordering it shortly as well.

#15 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 19 April 2011 - 11:52 AM

two words... peer review....

I have gladly paid for Fishes of MS, OH, VA, TN, AL, AR, MO, SC, TX, LA, AL (the other one), Carolinas, VA, MD & DE (one book), Conasauga River, Okefenokee Swamp, Middle Savannah River Basin, Great Lakes, AL 1968, Great Lakes 1964, MS 1959, and my new favorite A Partial Synopsis of the Fishes of Upper Georgia 1876

Worth every penny on many different levels...

Oh, and both Peterson's... original and brand new!



I agree wholeheartedly. Any yo-yo can post junk on the internet. These books are reviewed by other experts in the field. It should be noted that most of these experts are not spending their time writing Wikipedia articles and the like. I may occasionally find info on the 'net, but it has to then be corroborated by real references before I will trust it.

Also - the internet does not nearly provide the same experience as sitting down with a good book. Searching and clicking around is a pain - too much crap to wade through. And I don't like having to go back and forth through endless links to read information - I'd rather just turn the page. Besides, on days when I'm not doing fieldwork, I spend the entire day at a desk with a computer. God knows I don't want to do that when I get home. Plus, the internet isn't always available in the field when in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. (I also don't have a smart phone and am not about to get one, but I realize that's just my personal preference).

Upshot - I'd much rather my information come from a known and respected scientist with first-hand experience with the subject than from Lord-knows-who on the internet, who may or may not know what they are talking about. (Or who may just be regurgitating something they read elsewhere on the 'net!)




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