Article © Julian Dignall, uploaded January 01, 2002.

This book is translated from Japanese and simply because of this, gives a fresh approach. The first 75% of the book is devoted to family by family photographs of catfish; these are all of the highest quality and are about the best collection in any one book although many of the rare unidentified species are now common imports. Fans of large catfish, both Asian and American, are particularly well served. There is, however, no individual species information.

The text of the latter quarter of the book however is at once novel, useful, enthusiastic and occasionally amusing - due to, I suspect, the translation. I liked this, and would say that despite the excellent photos, the quirky text remains the book's best feature.

This book was also translated in German and published by Bede Verlag as "Faszination Welse" - see this page.

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