Washington State Magazine
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Fishes of the Columbia Basin: A guide to their natural history and identification

by Dennis Dauble '78 :: Keokee Books :: Reviewed by Tim Steury

Fishes of the Columbia Basin: A guide to their natural history and identification

It’s really pretty remarkable how much Dennis Dauble has managed to squeeze into this book of a mere 210 pages. If you read Fishes of the Columbia Basin:

  • You will get a good briefing on fish in Columbia Basin Indian culture and history.
  • You will know about the history of the introduced shad and its movement up the Columbia following the inundation of Celilo Falls. 
  • You will know that there was yet another dam planned for the Columbia River, but it was nixed because it would have increased the transport of hazardous chemicals. 
  • You will know a lot more than you do now about the role of smell and other senses in fish homing.
  • You will learn that Lewis and Clark were perplexed by the number of dead salmon they found because they did not understand spawning.
  • You will be able to identify any fish you catch and understand its natural history.
  • You will probably want to go fishing.

Fishes of the Columbia Basin is not so much a guide to fishing spots, as a handbook providing the background to understand fishing the region, from aquatic food webs to the role of water temperature in habitat. It is a natural history of the area from the perspective of fish. It is both a book that you will read for pleasure in the evening and include in your tackle box.

Author Dennis Dauble teaches fish ecology at WSU Tri-Cities and recently retired as a fisheries biologist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Categories: Biological sciences | Tags: Columbia Basin, Fishing, Fish

ISBN: 1879628341