"Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World's Most Coveted Delicacy" by Inga Saffron. 2002. [book review]

by making local keys where fewer species are involved or expanding on such observations as longspine thornyheads have “branchiostegals usually with scales” – how frequent is usually? The compilation of countable characters is simply a list of pectoral, anal and dorsal fin rays, gill rakers, lateral line pores, and vertebrae. It might be possible to analyse these as a combination of characters that can be used to key out fish or at least unequivocally narrow the choices where species diversity is high. Most books of serious scientific bent are devoid of humour, rightly so in the judgment of some. This book is eccentric in that its strong scientific and highly technical content is interspersed with humorous asides. These will not be to the taste of all but certainly enliven the book. We learn on page 1 that the genus of rockfishes, Sebastesmeaning “magnificent”, was coined by Baron Cuvier who was blessed with a whole series of Christian names and then adopted his late brother’s name but, being “ordered, austere, disciplined, and pompous” was unlikely to have been called “Georgie”, “Nikky” or “Cuvie” by his contemporaries (this is merely silly); on page 10 Theodore Gill is captioned as “grouchy and sowed confusion in his wake” in respect of rockfish taxonomy (too harsh?); Figure 7.4 on declining annual recruitment of juvenile bocaccio is a line graph in the best scientific tradition but has the young rockfish spilling out of a baby carriage (drives the point home but quaint); the gap between the two cultures of science and art is no better illustrated than on page 46 where a painting of a man with a rockfish swallowing/biting the top of his head is captioned “Fish Head” (no explanation for the poor scientist); and on the last page the blurb about the senior author states that he is “A quick-tempered man of huge ego, we would not cross him if we were you” (a joke by his co-authors or a cause for concern to reviewers?). This book is an essential, if quirky in parts, guide for anyone interested in rockfishes or their biology in the northeastern Pacific.