Covers the species of interest to fisheries of the major marine resource groups. Families that are less important to fisheries include an abbreviated family account and no detailed species information. Species in the important families are treated in detail and include the species name, frequent synonyms and names of similar species, an illustration, FAO common name(s), diagnostic characters, biology and fisheries information, notes on geographical distribution and a distribution map. The marine groups included are the bivalves, gastropods, cephlapods, stomatopods, shrimps, lobsters, crabs, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, chimaeras, bony fishes, sea turtles and marine mammals. Introductory chapters outline the environmental, ecological and biogeographical factors influencing the marine biota.
This final volume concludes with an index of scientific and common names.