Re: Plant ID

["Steven Pituch" <spituch at ev1_net>]

I may be able to answer my own question soon.  On the Center for Aquatic and
Invasive Plants web site (University of Florida) at:
http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/welcome.html
they have a bibliography of books about fish and plants.  I found a very
interesting book for Texas aquarists under the "New books and Reports" link:

"AQUATIC AND WETLAND PLANTS OF THE WESTERN GULF COAST, by C. D.
Stutzenbaker. 1999. 466 pp.
(Published by Texas Parks and Wildlife Press.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/news/press/
ISBN 1-885696-31-0)

If you follow this link it says that the book has 900 illustrations, scale
photographs for field identification, covers 442 plants, and costs $29.95.
It covers New Orleans to Brownsville, TX, so this book should contain more
for Texans than what is on the Florida web site which is specific to Florida
plants only.

For fish enthusiasts there is also another book which seems helpful:

Learn about . . . Texas Freshwater Fishes
By Georg Zappler
Illustrated by Elena T. Ivy

"... this book includes detailed information about the anatomy of fish,
ancient fishes, and the 174 species of freshwater fishes found in Texas
today. Grouped by type (jawless, bony, etc.), the fish are illustrated with
black-and-white line drawings, and each fish's distinguishing features and
marks are described.
96 pages, soft cover, profusely illustrated with black-and-white line
drawings.
8 ½" x 11" Paperback, $9.95
ISBN 1-885696-36-1
Price....$ 9.95"
I think this book is probably good since it is written for children (as well
as adults) to also understand.  So hopefully it will have more of the
smaller fish kids tend to collect with nets in ponds than the typical "game
fish" type of book.

So I figure that if I want to learn something about the native fish and
plants in the area, I should at least try to become some sort of expert (in
the amateur sense) myself.  It OK to just enjoy our aquariums but its even
nicer when we can learn about the local environment from them.

I want to buy the Kaselmann book, which I hear is wonderful (I've seen a few
of the photos), but budget-wise I think for now these two are a better
investment for me, since I am more into the local biotope.

Steve Pituch
http://users.ev1.net/~spituch/