Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animals on the cover of Eclipse are ornate butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus). Ornate butterflyfish are easily recognized by their white skin marked with orange diagonal, parallel stripes. A black eye-band runs vertically down the head to conceal the eye--an adaptation that confuses predators as to the direction the fish will flee when attacked. Butterflyfish have laterally compressed bodies that enable them to swim stealthily through coral crevices. These reef-dwelling fish are native to the tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific, inhabiting both shallow lagoons and seaward reefs.

Mature butterflyfish are characteristically monogamous and travel in mated pairs. During the day, the home-ranging pairs search for food; at night, they sleep hidden in reef recesses. Adults usually spawn at dusk, rising 30 to 50 feet above their habitats into the water column, where they release a white cloud of gametes before quickly returning to the bottom. The abandoned, tiny, buoyant, fertilized eggs are dispersed by the currents. Once hatched, usually within 30 hours of fertilization, the larvae are protected by bony armor, which is shed during the juvenile stage. Juveniles are solitary until they reach sexual maturity, about a year after birth.

Ornate butterflyfish have short jaws and brush-like teeth for nipping off the coral polyps that sustain their diets. Because they are corallivorous, ornate butterflyfish do not survive well away from the reef. These highly sensitive fish are more susceptible to diseases, bacterial infections, and starvation when kept in a home aquarium. Marlowe Shaeffer was the production editor and proofreader for Eclipse. Jane Ellin was the copyeditor. Reg Aubry and Mary Anne Weeks Mayo provided quality control. Lucie Haskins wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Julie Hawks to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Marlowe Shaeffer.