DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION.—Review the general diversity in each group, the number of genera, and any distribution peculiarities such as endemism and introductions. Standardized maps of North America will be used to show the general range of each family. You will not complete the final map outlining the distribution of your family; I will have this completed. For the appropriate base map to circumscribe the distribution of the family you may download or print out an example map from the book website http://www.slu.edu/biology/mayden/NAFFmap.html. Only the distributions of families will be illustrated and no other maps (smaller or larger) will be used.

FOSSIL RECORD.—A brief review of the fossil history, if any, of each family. Because this book is mainly targeting an audience working with extant fishes we must focus on the extant taxa.

MORPHOLOGY.—Where appropriate, authors will review important morphological structures, especially basic anatomical studies of interest for homologies and terminology, as well as functional and eco-morphological studies [reserve systematic studies involving morphology for that section].

GENETICS.— Review studies focusing on the genetics of a family [reserve systematic studies involving genetics for that section].

PHYSIOLOGY.—Physiological studies using species in each family will highlight the incredible diversity of physiological traits exemplified by fishes.

BEHAVIOR.—Because studies in fish behavior have increased dramatically in the past decade, pertinent literature dealing with behavioral aspects of fishes will be included.

REPRODUCTION.—The general features of reproductive cycle and fecundity of each taxon including modes of spawning, mate choice, spawning locations, parental care, etc.

ECOLOGY.—Basic ecological information for each family, ranging from autecological studies of species to the importance of individual taxa in communities and ecosystems.

CONSERVATION.—This section focuses on any imperiled fishes in the family and the likely reasons for their declining numbers.

COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE.—The economic or commercial importance of some fish (e.g., Centrarchidae, Acipenseridae, Salmonidae, etc.) deserves discussion; however for many other families only minor discussion (if any) will be required.

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS.—The importance of systematic information relative to species relationships and the classification of organisms is required information. Many papers and books underscore the importance of phylogenetic relationships for studies in ecology, evolution, and behavior.
This section will review the phylogenetic hypotheses for the family (inter- and intrafamilial relationships), provide a justifiable classification and document why the classifications for the family have changed over the years. Obviously, in some families the classification of species into genera will be somewhat controversial and alternatives may exist. Because you will have to provide a classification and a taxonomic key for the species you will have to develop a classification that can be used for the key. However, as you know, this classification can be annotated.

KEY TO THE GENERA OF FAMILY.—You will need to provide a dichotomous key to the EXTANT genera in each family. You will also need to provide rough drawings illustrating the pertinent characters used in the keys. The keys in this book will be very user friendly and will be styled after a general format developed by William Pflieger’s (1975, 1997) Fishes of Missouri (please consult). For each couplet there will be a set of drawings illustrating the important characters and these will be annotated (see an example of how the key will look in the final stages go to http://www.slu.edu/biology/mayden/NAFFkey.html).

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PROVIDE THE FINAL DRAWINGS for the keys. You will provide the text for the key and rough drawings for each of the couplets. I will have all the drawings completed in the same style, similar to the style used by Pflieger and the style that I am using in my book with Herb Boschung on the Freshwater Fishes of Alabama. Examples of the types of illustrations that will accompany the couplet text are provided below and at http://www.slu.edu/biology/mayden/NAFFill.html

THE KEY TO THE GENERA IN A FAMILY SHOULD BE THE FIRST THING THAT YOU COMPLETE FOR YOUR CHAPTER (COMPLETE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS). Once you have completed your key to the genera you can send the text and illustrations to me so that I can begin to have the original artwork completed for the couplets.

You will not have to worry about describing and introducing terminology that may be unfamiliar to users but will be used in the keys. This information will be introduced to the reader in Chapter 2, The Identification of Fishes).

Send your text and images for the dichotomous keys to the genera as soon as possible. You can send it all electronically to maydenrl@slu.edu; the text can be in Microsoft Word and the images can be scanned jpgs that are clearly legible.

Example Images for Keys

LITERATURE GUIDE.—Each chapter will provided a literature guide that include citations, as well as annotations regarding the uses and limitations of published articles and books for additional taxonomic, ecological, behavioral, and evolutionary investigation.

All authors of non-taxonomic chapters should provide me with a general outline of the chapter as soon as possible. The following chapters and authors are included:

The general instructions for the formatting of contributions generally follows that outlined by the journal Copeia. However, there are some differences. Please follow the guidelines outlined below when preparing your contribution.

COVER SHEET (required for all manuscripts) provides manuscript title; name and address of each author; telephone number, fax number, and internet address of corresponding author; key words of manuscript; suggested running head; and number of text pages, line art figures, halftone figures, and tables.

TEXT must be double-spaced, left-justified, 12 point Times (not Times New Roman or variations of). All measurements must be in metric units, and abbreviations (except for common ones pertaining to measurement, time, or statistical test) must be defined at first use. Footnotes (other than in Tables) are not permitted. Generic and specific names (and nothing else except secondary headings, genetic loci, and some statistical abbreviations) italicized, and authorship should appear only when nomenclatorial problems are involved. Institutional abbreviations used in text and in Material Examined must follow Leviton et al., 1985. [Authors using such abbreviations are encouraged to insert the following sentence in their Materials and Methods section: "Institutional abbreviations are as listed in Leviton et al. (1985)." The following reference should then be included in their Literature Cited: "Leviton, A. E., R. H. Gibbs Jr., E. Heal, and C. E. Dawson. 1985. Standards in herpetology and ichthyology: Part I. Standard symbolic codes for institutional resource collections in herpetology and ichthyology. Copeia 1985:802--832."] Full address(es) of author(s) must follow Literature Cited. The e-mail address of the corresponding author and the author to whom reprint requests are to be addressed must be identified.

Contributions contain an abstract not to exceed 5% of text length. Named sections in the manuscript can be employed at only three levels and cannot be lettered or numbered. In general follow the outlined provided above for taxonomic chapters and approved outlines for other chapters.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS identify individuals by first and middle initial and full surname and do not list professional titles. Collecting permits and Institutional Animal Care protocols, if required to effect research in the manuscript, should be cited in Acknowledgments.

LITERATURE CITED is double-spaced and formatted identically for all manuscripts. Consult a recent issue of Copeia for style; however, be sure names of authors are typed in upper and lower case letters, as in the rest of the text (do not use small caps or all caps). Manuscripts submitted or in preparation, abstracts, in-house or intra-agency reports, computer program manuals, and any writings not readily obtainable through normal library channels cannot be quoted as Literature Cited (but may be quoted in text as "unpubl."). Do not use a line ( ______ ) to represent the repeat of an author in the literature cited.

TABLES (numbered in Arabic), with a short but ample heading, must each appear on separate sheets and be double-spaced with no dotted or vertical lines. Tables must be cited chronologically, and location of each table should be indicated in the right margin of text as "T1," "T2," etc. All materials should be 12 point Times.

FIGURES (numbered in Arabic) should be mounted, each on a separate sheet. When several drawings or photographs are grouped as one, they must be trimmed and spaced for final reproduction, arranged as one unit, and lettered with an uppercase block letter in lower left corner of each plot (Times). All mounted figures must not exceed 21.6 x 28 cm (8.5 x 11 in) and lettering must be sized appropriately. PLEASE provide the chapter number, author’s name(s), and figure number on the back of the image. Originals should not be submitted for review. Color reproductions must be prepaid by author, who must contact the Editor directly concerning cost. Figures must be cited chronologically, and location of each figure should be clearly indicated in right text margin as "F1," "F2," etc. Figure legends are grouped sequentially, are double-spaced, and immediately precede the figures listed in order. All text for legends should be 12 point Times; when labeling anything on figures the font should be Times and the size should be appropriate for the illustration size.

Each chapter will have one or more phylogenetic trees summarizing relationships. All lettering on the trees should be in Times and the font should be appropriate for the size of the image. All trees should be constructed as rectangular cladograms, not phylograms (where branch lengths are proportional to anagenesis), so all branches will be equal in length. Obviously scientific names should be in italics; supraspecific groups can be identified on trees in mixed case but not italics (e.g., Teleostei). An example is provided below.

For the illustrations used in the taxonomic keys to accompany text in couplets, authors will provide generally rough but clearly identifiable drawings of the characters and perspectives to be illustrated. The editor will have final drawings completed in a style that will be uniform for the book. See our website for examples of the types of (http://www.slu.edu/biology/mayden/NAFF.html) final drawings that will be used in the keys. Remember, the taxonomic keys are only for EXTANT genera.

SUBMISSIONS must be made in triplicate to Dr. Richard L. Mayden, Department of Biology, 3507 Laclede Ave., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2010 USA. If you submit your manuscript via email (maydenrl@slu.edu) it must be in Microsoft Word.

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP: The editor and the press recognize that authorship implies responsibility for the work published in their respective chapters.

COPYRIGHT: If authors use any original artwork, images, etc. previously published or the property of someone other than the author of the chapter you will be responsible for obtaining permissions necessary to reproduce the work in North American Freshwater Fishes: Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior. Appropriate forms may be obtained on line at http://www.slu.edu/biology/mayden/NAFFforms.html.

Copyrights for all final maps generated for each chapter and all final drawings used in the taxonomic keys will remain with the artist and editor. There will be no charge for the use of these drawings in the publication of North American Freshwater Fishes: Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior by Academic Press.