Book excerpt: 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