Secret Life Of Fishes: From Angels To Zebras On The Coral Reef

Lying in a globe-encompassing belt between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, on the edges of continents and in the farthest reaches of the ocean alike, coral reefs harbor an astonishing diversity of life forms. The lives of these creatures, writes artist Helen Buttfield in this beautifully illustrated survey, speak to Darwinian principles: to an incessant fight for survival, food, and space. But they also speak to "surprising forms of cooperation," to mutually beneficial patterns of interaction among fish and invertebrates, habits that tinge the Hobbesian view of the reef with a refreshing dose of altruism.

Buttfield's thoughtful bestiary, which will appeal to collectors of tropical fish as much as to naturalists, treats some 250 varieties of reef fishes. Buttfield is particularly good at describing what at first glance might seem curious behaviors--the courting dance, as it were, of the Japanese pygmy angelfish, for instance--and adaptations, such as the subtly effective pixy hawkfish's strategy of luring unsuspecting feeders into its mouth by fanning its dorsal fins to mimic the swaying motion of coral polyps. From anthias to mandarinfish to zooxanthellae (the yellow-brown algae that live within the tissues of those polyps), Buttfield has something interesting to say--and her paintings are nothing short of remarkable. --Gregory McNamee