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Book review: 
ICHTHYOFAUNA OF THE ADRIATIC SEA 
Authors: Jakov Dulčić & Marcelo Kovačić
Editor: Golden marketing, Tehnička knjiga,
Institut za oceanografiju i ribarstvo Split.
680 pp.
The Adriatic Sea is the cradle of marine bi-
ological and oceanographic sciences. The first 
research dealing with marine biodiversity was 
carried out in the 16th century, and continuous 
research of the Adriatic has been ongoing for 
the last two hundred years. This is also true for 
fish fauna, which in the Adriatic Sea has a longer 
research tradition than in other seas. Neverthe-
less, knowledge of fish fauna is far from being 
complete, as many species previously unknown 
to the Adriatic Sea are commonly recorded, while 
others are rapidly disappearing. In addition, mo-
dern methods, including those involving the aid 
of SCUBA diving equipment, have confirmed the 
existence of rare and little-known species of fish 
that standard ichthyological methods failed to 
detect. Despite the relatively enviable tradition 
of exploring life in the Adriatic, there have been 
surprisingly few monographs devoted to the rich-
ness of fish species in this sea. Among the most 
famous is the monograph by Dr. Tonko Šoljan 
Fish of the Adriatic Sea, an outstanding work in 
Croatian that was first printed in 1948 and has 
since appeared in many new editions and been 
translated into the Italian language as well. The 
second basic monograph on fish species entitled 
Adriatic Ichthyofauna (1996), again in Croatian, 
was written by Dr. Ivo Jardas.
This year, a new monograph was published 
by two renowned Croatian ichthyologists, Dr. 
Jakov Dulčić and Dr. Marcelo Kovačić. The for-
mer outstanding ichthyologist, like Šoljan and 
Jardas, comes from the Split Institute of Fisheries 
and Oceanography. Marcelo Kovačić is a curator 
at the Rijeka Museum of Natural History and a 
world-renowned expert on the fishes of the fa-
mily Gobiidae. The book is entitled Ichthyofauna 
of the Adriatic Sea and was written in Croatian. 
Presenting an updated overview of the fish fau-
na of the Adriatic Sea, it is, unlike the first two 
monographs, richly adorned with photographs 
and drawings making it more suitable for a wider 
circle of readers. After a short introduction, the 
authors undertake a historical overview of fish re-
search in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean and 
a review of biodiversity with special emphasis on 
fish fauna. They also provide basic information 
on how to use the book. This chapter is very 
important, as it presents the basic concepts and 
highlights the most important criteria for fish 
identification as well as anatomical and morpho-
logical features to pay attention to when trying to 
determine the identity of a specimen under inve-
stigation. The most extensive chapter, the third, 
supplies a key for determining the fish families 
of the Adriatic Sea, simplified and equipped with 
pictorial material that makes it easier to identi-
fy key characters. This chapter presents all the 
species so far confirmed in the Adriatic Sea. For 
each species a Croatian, Latin, and English name 
is provided, as well as its Latin synonyms. The 
authors then state the total size and in some cases 
the body weight, describe the species in terms of 
coloration, ecological and biological characteri-
stics, distribution, importance to humans, status 
(regarding endangerment), protection measures, 
and lists key literature related to the species in 
the Adriatic. Each fish species is presented with 
a colour photograph ‒ the vast majority stored in 
formalin or alcohol samples. The order of presen-
tation of the species follows the modern systema-
tics of fish, with the authors providing the key to 
identifying species within a family (if it consists 
of more than one species). This is followed by 
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a glossary of technical terms and abbreviations, 
and source materials. The book concludes with 
a factual index of Latin and Croatian names and 
terms and a brief description of both authors. The 
book was co-financed by the Croatian Ministry of 
Science and Education.
This monograph is a modern overview of the 
Adriatic fish fauna, which takes into account all the 
new records on the emergence of alien species and 
those associated with the northward spread of ther-
mophilic species, which have been discovered and 
described in recent years. In his monograph, Šoljan 
presented 365 species, Jardas almost fifty years 
later 407 species; Dulčić and Kovačić describe as 
many as 444 species of fish in the Adriatic Sea. The 
key for the determination of fish species is much 
clearer and more understandable than in the earlier 
two monographs, which in most cases promises a 
correct identification to every reader. The book is a 
680-page hard cover.
The cost of the book is 320 Croatian kunas 
(just over 40 euros), making it accessible to the 
general public as well as experts, all who are in-
terested in exploring the richness of the Adriatic 
fish fauna, offering good prospects that readers 
will be able to recognise every species they find 
in their hands.
Lovrenc Lipej
Marine Biology Station Piran,
National Institute of Biology
Book review: 
KNIGHTS, BALLERINAS AND INVISIBLES: 
THE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE 
BRIJUNI MARINE PROTECTED AREA
Authors: Roland Melzer, Felica Ceseña, Moira 
Buršić, Tobias Lehmann, Roland Mayer, Borut 
Mavrič, Tihomir Makovec, Martin Pfannkuchen, 
Jessica McHenry & Martin Heß
Editor: Javna ustanova Nacionalni park Brijuni, 
Schwarzprint, 123 pp., 2019. 
The book can be purchased for 20 euros by 
sending mail to: infombp@nib.si 
At the end of last year, a monographic work with 
the poetic title Knights, Ballerinas and Invisibles 
– The Decapod Crustaceans of the Brijuni Marine 
Protected Area was published by ten researchers: 
from Germany, Croatia, Austria, Slovenia, and the 
USA, led by Prof. Roland Melzer. The international 
research group had been conducting studies on va-
rious aspects of marine biodiversity of the Brijuni 
National Park (NW Croatia) for many years. The 
book, which dedicates particular interest to deca-
pods (Crustacea: Decapoda), has 123 pages and 
is enriched with quality photographs of shrimps, 
crabs, and other members of this taxonomic group. 
The way in which the authors present individual 
groups of decapod crabs is also interesting: we 
read about knights with strong armours, ballerinas, 
and ghosts - masters of disguise. The ballerinas are 
the shrimps, which the authors saw as dancing on 
the seabed, lobsters are squires, and crabs are dark 
knights.
The introductory chapter with the definition 
of decapod crustaceans, description of their body 
structure, and an evolutionary and systematic 
review, is followed by an extensive presentation 
of the species found in Brijuni, which covers the 
largest part of the publication. In addition to the 
lavish photographic material (213 colour images), 
the book is furnished with elegant and extremely 
elaborate illustrations of the external anatomical 
features of decapod crustaceans (28 BW and colour 
images). Higher taxonomical groups are presented 
in subchapters, each opening with a presentation