This field guide includes the marine and brackish-water species of bony fishes, sharks, batoid fishes, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, cephalopods, bivalves, gastropods and sea turtles of present or potential interest to the fisheries of the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea. Each major resources group is introduced by a general section on technical terms, followed by an annotated and illustrated list of the more important species which includes FAO names, size, fishing gear and habitat. To facilitate the identification, the chapters "Bony fishes", "Sharks" and "Batted fishes" are preceded by an illustrated guide to the different families.

A composite index of scientific and vernacular family and species names is also provided.