Learning to Identify Coral Reef Fishes

The first step for the participants in this project will be to learn to identify the fish species that inhabit the Caribbean Sea.  Fortunately, the are many scuba divers who are avid fish enthusiasts so there are very good resources to help us to learn to identify the reef fish.

Common Names vs. Scientific Names?


All species that have been studied and identified by scientists have been give a scientific name, but many of the common reef fish in the Caribbean are known by common names as well.  Because the same species can have different common names on different islands and the same common name can be used to describe different species in different locations, using common names can often lead to confusion.  Thus, in most cases, scientists use scientific names in their research projects.

Fortunately for us, groups of fish biologists in the Caribbean have reached an informal agreement to use the common names assigned to each species by Paul Human and Ned Deloach (a TTU grad) in their book Reef Fish Identification. Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas.  Human and Deloach's book has become sort of the Bible for Fish ID in the region and groups such as REEF have agreed to use their common names for their  citizen-science fish survey program.  We will follow that convention as well.... so you will not have to learn scientific names for this project.

Some Basic Fish ID  Resources

• Reef Fish Identification. Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. 2002. Paul Human and Ned Deloach. New World Publications, Inc. Jacksonville, Florida.
• Reef Fish ID- Interactive Edition.  http://reefnet.ca/products/fishes/caribbean/
• REEF Species Gallery, Caribbean- http://www.reef.org/resources/galleries/caribbean
• Guide to 20 Common Fish Species of Florida and the Caribbean- http://scuba.about.com/od/marinelife/ss/Reef-Fish-Identification-Guide-20-Common-Species-Of-Florida-And-The-Caribbean.htm
• Florent's Guide to the Florida, Bahamas, and Caribbean Reefs.  http://reefguide.org/carib/index_all.html