Pacific Salmon Life Histories

Victor Clulow is a zoology professor at Laurentian University.

This superb technical book may have a broader appeal than its
specialized title suggests. Six distinguished contributors address a
topic of common interest in a coherent and pleasing way—no mean
achievement. Following an editors’ preface, the life histories of the
seven species of Pacific salmon are described by the authorities. Their
accounts are fully referenced to work published into the late 1980s.

Also covered are spawning, fecundity, fry growth and development, the
famous lifetime migrations of salmon, population cycles, homing (the
return of fish to their hatching place to spawn), transplant
populations, hybridization, and behavior. Clear graphs and maps (most of
which are in a similar style), high-quality color plates of photographs
and paintings (by H. Heine), and geographical and subject indexes all
contribute to the excellence of this volume.

The book should be on the shelf of zoologists either teaching or
researching aspects of fisheries biology, fish life histories,
population biology, and behavior. It will be consulted by many wishing
to bring themselves up to date on the knowledge we have of these prized
fishes. Casual readers will also gain much from this fine book, which is
to be commended for its content, design, manufacture, editing, and
overall execution.