T he impetus to produce this book came in a brief phone call in 1998. Chuck Crumly, of Academic Press, called with an invitation and a deadline. Either The Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs, published in 1991, would be allowed to lapse into out-of-print status, or I would agree to produce a second edition. Looking back on all the work, I suspect it might have been wiser to say, "Let her lapse." But I didn't. During my deliberations, I thought about whether a new edition was worthwhile, whether further books on the topic were justified, and what my colleagues would say if I came seeking chapter authors. I told Academic.
