PROBABLY MORE THAN YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST <i> by Robin Milton Love (Really Big Press, P.O. Box 60123, Santa Barbara, CA 93160: $12.95, </i> illustrated).

As the title suggests, Love offers a great deal of information in this informal guide to the common fish of the Pacific littoral. He notes that the spines of the highly edible California scorpion fish remain poisonous, even when the fish is dead and frozen. He also explains why soaking the puncture in hot water alleviates the pain: The heat alters the chemical composition of toxin, rendering it ineffective. Love fleshes out the technical descriptions with first-hand anecdotes about tagging fish and the incredible number of eggs he’s discovered during dissections. Unfortunately, he can’t resist including a plethora of painfully unfunny jokes. If a good editor had curbed Love’s regrettable sense of humor, they might have produced a really useful nature guide. As it is, reading this book is like walking through a fetid pool on stepping stones: The trick is to jump from fact to fact, without falling into the “comic” miasma.