The second volume in the Fauna Malesiana book series gives an extensive overview of the larval development of 124 families of fishes, many of them of importance for both fishery and from ecological perspectives. The families that are described originate from the center of global marine biodiversity: the tropical Indo-Pacific Oceans, a region rich in coral reefs, as well as mangrove, estuarine, and coastal shelf habitats. The identification guide not only documents the ontogeny of these fishes but also provides the means to identify these extraordinarily diverse larvae to the level of family. The book offers a wealth of instructive and detailed figures and illustrations (219 plates, each consisting of approximately 4 figures) for enabling the identification of these families and their larval specialization.

"This is an original, superb synthesis that deserves to adorn the bookshelves of countless biologists in the world. The authors offer unique and original notions on functional morphology of larvae, larval features that play a key role during the evolution of fishes, the different patterns of larval and embryonic differentiation, and the complexities and underlying causation of population dynamics." --Karel F. Liem, Harvard University "The Early Life History of Marine Fishes brings together in one book a useful summary of fish reproduction, and the development, ecology, and dynamics of early life history stages. With additional chapters on identification, systematic, field sampling, and culturing techniques, this book covers a lot of territory."--Lee A. Fuiman, University of Texas at Austin

This guide presents the egg and larval descriptions of 150 species of fishes belonging to 57 families, which are most likely to be present in plankton samples collected in the continental shelf and oceanic waters off northwest Africa. The guide is structured in two parts. The first introductory part describes the different applications of ichthyoplankton studies in fisheries research and management, and fish population ecology, the main sampling strategies, methods and gears, and the problems related to sample representativeness. It also describes the early life history of fishes, and how to identify them. A brief description of the hydrography of the study area is also presented. The second part of the guide features the species identification sheets. Each species sheet includes the following information: an illustration of the adult fish and information on its distribution, habitat, spawning season, and meristic characters; a description of the main features useful towards identifying the egg, yolk-sac and larval stages; and illustrations and photos of different larval stages. Finally, the guide provides a comprehensive list of references.

This guide presents the egg and larval descriptions of 100 species of fishes belonging to 55 families, which are most likely to be present in plankton samples collected in the continental shelf and oceanic waters of the Western Mediterranean Sea. The guide is structured in two parts. The first introductory part describes the different applications of ichthyoplankton studies in fisheries research, the main sampling strategies, methods and gears, the early life history of fishes and how to identify them. A brief historical account of ichthyoplankton identification studies in the Mediterranean Sea is also provided. The second part of the guide contains the identification sheets of the species. Each species sheet includes the following information: illustration of the adult fish and information on its habitat and spawning season; description of the main features useful towards identifying the egg, yolk sac and larval stage of each fish species; illustrations and (when available) photos of the different life stages.