Do you know your blowfish from your bluefish? How about your smelt from your snook?

If not, consider taking the latest entry in food writer Aliza Green’s “Field Guide” series on your next trip to the fishmonger. These pocket-size books tackle food with Green’s signature breathtaking thoroughness.

Green’s “Field Guide to Seafood” (Quirk Books, 2007, $15.95) is divided into sections covering fish, mollusks, crustaceans and the entertaining “other water creatures,” which includes turtle, frog legs sea urchin and sea cucumber.

The entries in each section offer detailed information on each variety of seafood, including other names (bluefish, for example, goes by amikiri in Japan), the best season for it, how to select it, store and prepare it, and flavor affinities.

Though there are many recipes and serving suggestions, this book is more reference than cookbook. An insert of color photographs is particularly helpful when trying to identify your catch.