The highly anticipated second volume of Freshwater Fishes of North America, a monumental, fully illustrated reference that provides comprehensive details on the freshwater fishes of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

When the first volume of Freshwater Fishes of North America was published, it was immediately hailed as the definitive reference in the field. Readers have been fervently awaiting the next volume in this encompassing three-book set ever since. Now complete, volume 2, covering families Characidae to Poeciliidae, is the result of decades of analysis by leading fish experts from universities and research laboratories across North America.

Each volume in this authoritative synthesis covers the ecology, morphology, reproduction, distribution, behavior, taxonomy, conservation, and the fossil record of the included North American fish families. The encyclopedic reviews of each family are accompanied by color photographs (nearly 250 in this volume alone), range maps, and artwork created by noted fish illustrator Joseph R. Tomelleri. The result is a rich textual and visual experience that covers everything known about the diversity, natural history, ecology, and biology of North American freshwater fishes.

Volume 2 covers the following North American families of fishes:

Characidae (Characins)
Ictaluridae (North American Catfishes)
Ariidae (Sea Catfishes)
Heptapteridae (Three-barbeled Catfishes)
Osmeridae (Smelts)
Esociformes (Esocidae, Pikes and Umbridae, Mudminnows)
Percopsidae (Trout-perches)
Amblyopsidae (Cavefishes)
Aphredoderidae (Pirate Perches)
Gadidae (Cods and Cuskfishes)
Mugilidae (Mullets)
Atherinopsidae (New World Silversides)
Beloniformes (Needlefishes and Halfbeaks)
Rivulidae (New World Rivulines)
Profundulidae (Middle American Killifishes)
Goodeidae (Goodeids)
Fundulidae (Topminnows)
Cyprinodontidae (Pupfishes)
Poeciliidae (Livebearers)

The chapter authors of Volume 2 are:

Gianetta Adams
Clyde Barbour
Micah Bennett
Ricardo Bentancur-R.
Peter B. Z. Berendzen
Brooks M. Burr
Mollie Cashner
Robert C. Cashner
Bruce B. Collette
Matthew Davis
Alice F. Echelle
Anthony A. Echelle
Fernando Galvez
Michael Ghedotti
Nicholas Gidmark
Terry Grande
Robert L. Hopkins
Lauren M. Kuehne
Frank McCormick
Norman Mercado-Silva
Ann U. O'Connell
Martin T. O'Connell
Julian D. Olden
Claudia Patricia Ornelas-Garcia
Mark Sabaj Perez
Kyle R. Piller
Steven Powers
Jacob Schaefer
Juan J. Schmitter-Soto
Andrew M. Simons
Roger A. Tabor
Cheryl Thiele
Matthew Thomas
Melvin L. Warren, Jr.
Mark V. H. Wilson

Melvin L. Warren, Jr. is a research biologist at the Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service. He was the chief editor of volume 1 of Freshwater Fishes of North America. Brooks M. Burr is professor emeritus in the Department of Zoology at Southern Illinois University, the coauthor of the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes, and the coeditor of volume 1 of Freshwater Fishes of North America. Joseph R. Tomelleri's (LEAWOOD, KS) illustrations have appeared in more than 400 publications, including books, magazines, advertisements, newspapers, and identification guides.