Freshwater Fishes of Texas: A Field Guide (River Books, Sponsored by The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Texas State University) Paperback – June 18, 2007

Needs to be updated.

High quality paperback, almost hardbound, this 200+ page book provides a 3-page 27-step guide to fish identification that is a great help if you catch something you're not familiar with. All photos are clear, with precise information for each fish, including physical characteristics, what part of the state they are found, and often some extra comments. This is not a 'how to fish' book. I highly recommend this book as an accurate, easy to use pocket guide as habitat location and fish identification.

Overall a good book, especially for the price. However, it has only a key to the families, and no key to the species found in Texas. The book also does not offer any quick ways to distinguish similar species. Some photos are great, others or poor. The range maps show only a general distribution in Texas and not specific localities, and no overall geographic distribution. Very little natural history is provided for each species. This could have easily been a 4 star book had it included a key to the species.Also, the book strangely makes no mention of the Comanche Springs pupfish.

Very useful when identifying Texas species; we used this book for a college class's lab and it included everything we needed for keying out North Texas fishes

Easy to follow field guide! Anyone interested in ichthyology needs to have a copy of this book

We started saving money by catching native fish for our aquariums (within the regulations of state law). This book has been very helpful for identifying the non-game fish that most people wouldn't recognize. It helps me brag on local forums on what I caught without looking like an idiot and not accidentally bringing home threatened or endangered species.

Since I'm a graduate of Texas State University, and the school is located pretty much on a river with a rather large aquatic life science department, I'm willing to say this is the best book on Texas Native Fishes. I purchased this book to research and identify fish for a native aquarium.

Excellent