Anyone with a serious interest in fishes of the Family Salmonidae should read "Trout and Salmon of North America" by Robert J. Behnke with illustrations by Joseph R. Tomelleri; The Free Press, New York, N. Y., 2002; 359 pages. Behnke, a leading authority on North American trout, char and salmon, and Tomelleri, an illustrator noted for his "detail, coloration and proportion" have produced a book that examines, explains and illustrates the great diversity in the salmonids of North America; the greatest diversity on earth.

This book covers this diversity in over 50 types (species and subspecies) of North American salmonids in the subfamilies Salmoninae (salmon, trout and chars), Thymallinae (graylings) and Coregoninae (whitefishes and ciscoes). As an example, Behnke gives the description; biology; distribution; evolution and classification; and conservation for each of ten subspecies of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Likewise, he provides the same level of detail for fourteen subspecies (two extinct) of cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarki, representing the four evolutionary lineages; the coastal, westslope, yellowstone and lahotan groups. Although some readers may have a greater interest in Behnke's coverage of the five species of Pacific salmon, genus Oncorhynchus, all which have parts of their life histories in local waters, the individual species have not exhibited the kinds of diversification leading to subspeciation as is found in rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus. As Behnke explains for these three species, geographical isolation and ecological specializations have led to the species' diversity seen today and the resulting difficulties for taxonomists and systematists. Behnke emphasizes the deleterious effects that the introduction of non-native hatchery salmonids have on native stocks, especially those with which the introduced species can hybridize or when the introduced species can reproduce at an earlier age with higher reproductive potentials. An example is the introduction of brook trout into western North American waters containing native bull trout. Another is the out planting of non-native, hatchery rainbow trout into native cutthroat trout areas. As Behnke explains, coastal rainbow and coastal cutthroat and, as well, redband rainbow and westslope cutthroat can coexist without hybridization because they coevolved to develop reproductive isolating mechanisms. Behnke has included an epilogue that brings this book into focus on these important topics. There is a listing of the common and scientific names of all the fishes discussed in the book; a short selective bibliography; a short glossary and a comprehensive index. Because this is a book directed towards a general audience, Behnke, in certain sections, could have been more explicit in discussing the evolutionary relationships among the species. Nonetheless, this is an especially well written and a beautifully illustrated book, complete with distribution maps, on an enormously important and complex group of fishes.