This guide is designed to help find the family identity of a fish in 2 steps. First, the appropriate order
should be found by comparing the characters listed under each order until a match is found. Second,
the characters listed to distinguish the families within the order should be compared with the fish in hand
until a match is found. Volume and page numbers for the family account are listed after each family to refer
to further information about the family and its species. The volume number is listed first, followed by the
page number in the volume. The orders and families are listed in phylogenetic order. Key characters for
the order are presented only on the first family listed in the order but are generally applicable to all families
in the order. These order-specific characters are presented in capital letters and highlighted in grey.
This will help distinguish the ordinal characters from the unhighlighted, uncapitalized characters
useful in distinguishing among the families within the order. These family characters are presented
with a general diagram representing the family and point to the area on the fish where the character can be
found, if appropriate. The diagram representing the family can, in most cases, help with identification through
its generalized shape. However, in some families, the general shape of particular genera and species varies
widely within the family and therefore particular care should be paid to examination of the characters. In
some cases, additional diagrams of morphological details are presented to help clarify the use of the
character. Characters used are not only key characters but also those characters most useful in distinguishing
the family from similar looking families. This guide is specifically designed to work for those orders and
families found in the Western Central Pacific area and may not work well for identification to this level outside
the area.