Park Association Publishes Fish Field Guide
Great Smoky Mountains Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical, and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has published a field guide dedicated to the aquatic residents of the Smokies. Small enough to fit in a pocket, Fishes of the Smokies includes detailed photography and key details for each species featured.
Written by Grant Fisher, Fishes of the Smokies takes readers on a deep dive into the park’s 2,900 miles of rivers and streams. Fisher applied years of research and working experience as an employee of the National Park Service to write the comprehensive field guide dedicated to the park’s waters.
“Through working in the Smokies, I always observed that one of the topics visitors seemed to know the least about, but be quite interested in, was fish,” Fisher said. “I think that most readers will be surprised to learn that the Smokies are home to so many different fish. A casual stroll or drive in the park reveals many small streams, but I believe few people actually expect them to hold such diversity.”
Every featured species in the book is profiled on a separate page and described with key details, including habitat, diet, and ecological and cultural history. With an introduction by Park Service Supervisory Fishery Biologist Matt Kulp, the book features watercolor illustrations and textures from vintage maps and notebooks as a nod to the park’s first naturalists.
“Great Smoky Mountains Association may be a small, regional publisher, but it’s one with a special superpower thanks to its unique position as an established partner to a national park,” said Aaron Searcy, the association’s publications associate. “From its well-researched species profiles to its detailed accounts of park history, ‘Fishes of the Smokies’ carries on a long tradition of accessible, practical field guides to the flora and fauna of the park—created or vetted by those with the most intimate knowledge of the landscape.”
Fishes of the Smokies is the newest addition to a popular line of pocket-size field guides published by the association. The “Of the Smokies” series includes comprehensive guides on birds, wildflowers, reptiles and amphibians, ferns, trees, mammals, and butterflies and moths.
The 4.5-by-6-inch paperback is available for $14.95 in the park’s visitor center bookstores and at GSMA’s online store at smokiesinformation.org.