This handy pocket guide enables divers and snorkelers to identify more than 270 of the most common species of marine life likely to be encountered in and around the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region, including fish, reptiles and amphibians, and invertebrates. Each species featured is illustrated with an outstanding colour photograph, accompanied by a species description covering nomenclature, size, habits and distribution. The Indo-Pacific region, encompassing the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, includes the major diving destinations of the Red Sea, the Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Great Barrier Reef, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, and accounts for 92% of the world's coral reefs. This guidebook shows the species that divers and snorkelers are really likely to encounter - it's the essential companion for every diving expedition.

Many thousands of Americans in such cities as Miami, New Orleans, Galveston, and Corpus Christi live near an estuary, one of nature's most intriguing ecosystems. But the same citizens who depend on a neighboring estuary for fresh shrimp or who visit it on a Sunday outing often know little about the physical makeup of estuaries and their contributions to the quality of human life. In this comprehensive study, Robert Stickney examines the physical, chemical, geological, and biological characteristics of estuaries, coastal regions where fresh water and seawater intermingle. This book, the first to bring together data on estuarine ecology in the region of interest, will provide a benchmark for future studies of estuaries and their mysteries and will be invaluable to aquatic ecologists, nonbiological oceanographers and limnologists, and interested laymen. Its storehouse of technical information will assure it a continuing place in the literature of estuarine ecology.

First Published in 1968. This works seeks to be neither controversial nor polemical, the author intends to present an entirely objective account of the beliefs and institutions of Islam. Lammens describes Hejaz as the cradle of Islam, where Western Arabia in its mountainous complexity holds as the primary focus in this title. Discussing Islam as having been formed by the evolution of thirteen centuries, the details supplied within enable the reader to extensively follow its historical development.

Practical and portable, this is the ultimate field guide to the world's cetaceans. This outstanding new field guide to whales, dolphins and porpoises is the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date guide to these popular mammals. With more than 500 accurate illustrations - complete with detailed annotations pointing out the most significant field marks - Field Guide to Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises covers all 93 species and every subspecies in the world. Many of the world's most respected whale biologists have collaborated on the concise text, which is packed with helpful identification tips from cetacean expert, Mark Carwardine. Mark's informative text is accompanied by up-to-date distribution maps for each species. Beautifully designed, to ensure critical information is quickly accessible, this is an indispensable resource that every whale-watcher will want to carry out to sea.

Paul Chanin has substantially updated his original book on otters for this new volume. He reports on the results of recent research studies and comments on what is now known about the causes of the decline and the eventual recovery of this charming - and still very elusive - mammal.A feature of the book is the beautiful and accurate line drawings and cartoons by renowned wildlife artist Guy Troughton. This special edition also features an eight-page gallery of stunning colour photographs.

Provides historical context for the many contributions made by using the Xenopus model System. Chapters written by an international team of leading researchers using Xenopus as a model organism. Chapters deal with cell biology, developmental biology, genomics, and evolutionary biology and include the results of the research. Well illustrated with color diagrams and photos.

Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, Shortlisted for the Stella Prize, Highly Commended in the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation, and a Sunday Independent Book of the Year. How do whales experience environmental change? Has our connection to these animals been transformed by technology? What future awaits us, and them? Fathoms blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore these questions. Giggs introduces us to whales so rare they have never been named and tells us of whale 'pop' songs that sweep across hemispheres. She takes us into the deeps to discover that one whale's death can spark a great flourishing of creatures. We travel to Japan to board whaling ships, examine the uncanny charisma of these magnificent mammals, and confront the plastic pollution now pervading their underwater environment.

With over 7,000 known species, frogs display a stunning array of forms and behaviors. A single gram of the toxin produced by the skin of the Golden Poison Frog can kill 100,000 people. Male Darwin's Frogs carry their tadpoles in their vocal sacs for sixty days before coughing them out into the world. The Wood Frogs of North America freeze every winter, reanimating in the spring from the glucose and urea that prevent cell collapse. The Book of Frogs commemorates the diversity and magnificence of all of these creatures, and many more. Six hundred of nature's most fascinating frog species are displayed, with each entry including a distribution map, sketches of the frogs, species identification, natural history, and conservation status. Life-size color photos show the frogs at their actual size--including the colossal seven-pound Goliath Frog. Accessibly written by expert Tim Halliday and containing the most up-to-date information, The Book of Frogs will captivate both veteran researchers and amateur herpetologists. As frogs increasingly make headlines for their troubling worldwide decline, the importance of these fascinating creatures to their ecosystems remains underappreciated. The Book of Frogs brings readers face to face with six hundred astonishingly unique and irreplaceable species that display a diverse array of adaptations to habitats that are under threat of destruction throughout the world.

This scientifically accurate yet utterly charming field guide to the Pacific coast intertidal zone introduces readers to a world populated by spectacular wildlife. Explore 150-year-old giant green anemones that paralyze their prey with their petal-like tentacles; sunflower sea stars that traverse the tide pool floor on twenty-four limbs; orange-tipped, opalescent sea slugs that dabble in cannibalism; and much, much more. Small enough to fit in a back pocket during a beach hike, this guide contains concise descriptions of tide pools' most common residents, noting each organism's size and zonation, as well as a few of its fascinating (and sometimes grotesque) habits. Full-color illustrations reminiscent of prints by Ernst Haeckel help tide poolers with easy identification, and tips for viewing help you explore the abundance that tide pools have to offer.

Record your fishing successes-for data or for fun!Every great angler has a story or two, but do you remember all the details? When did you catch it? Where were you fishing? How big was it . . . really? Those answers and more can be recorded forever in the Fishing Journal. Keep track of the "what," where," and "how many," and create a personalized keepsake to look back upon year after year. As an added bonus, this logbook included callouts and sidebars of information: trivia, famous fishing quotes, and more. Anglers of all ages will enjoy putting this journal to use.

"Bill Buford's "Heat "meets Phoebe Damrosch's" Service Included "in this unique blend of personal narrative, food miscellany, and history
"In March of 2009, Erin Byers Murray ditched her pampered city girl lifestyle and convinced the rowdy and mostly male crew at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Massachusetts, to let a completely unprepared, aquaculture-illiterate food and lifestyle writer work for them for 12 months to learn the business of oysters. SHUCKED is part love letter, part memoir and part documentary about the world's most beloved bivalves. An in-depth look at the work that goes into getting oysters from farm to table, SHUCKED shows Erin's full-circle journey through the modern day oyster farming process and tells a dynamic story about the people who grow our food, and the cutting-edge community of weathered New England oyster farmers who are defying convention and looking ahead. The narrative also interweaves Erin's personal story--the tale of how a technology-obsessed workaholic learns to slow life down a little bit and starts to enjoy getting her hands dirty (and cold). This is a book for oyster lovers everywhere, but also a great read for locavores and foodies in general.

For an angler, it's tough to beat the fresh-caught flavor and satisfaction of a delicious fish dinner savored after a successful day on the water. But to get the most from your catch, it must be handled, cleaned, and prepared properly from the moment of capture. In this long-awaited guide, outdoorsman Monte Burch, with the help of step-by-step instructions and detailed illustrations, explains how to handle all types of gamefish caught in both fresh and salt water, including trout, salmon, bass, walleye, perch, catfish, northern pike, bluefish, redfish, striped bass, and many others. This handbook covers the skills needed for gutting, scaling, skinning, steaking, and filleting all popular gamefish, as well as the knives, tools, and other equipment needed, and illustrates basic cooking methods. Burch also describes the best techniques for preserving fish, including freezing, drying, pickling, canning, and smoking. Then he shares many of his favorite recipes for frying, baking, poaching, and broiling your fish. Cleaning and Preparing Gamefish is a book all anglers will want to keep close at hand and refer to often. Its usefulness will last a lifetime.

When the famous South African fish scientist Professor JLB Smith published Old Fourlegs - The Story of the Coelacanth in 1956 he created an international sensation. After all, this 400-million-year-old fish, known only from fossil remains, was thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago! JLB Smith’s dramatic account of the discovery of the first and second coelacanths in 1938 and 1952 turned him into a cult figure and put South African science on the world map. His book was eventually published in six English editions and translated into nine foreign languages.

Mike Bruton’s The Annotated Old Fourlegs includes a facsimile reprint of the original book, to which he has added notes and images in the margins that provide an interesting and revealing commentary on Smith’s text, as well as new introductory and explanatory chapters that bring the coelacanth story up to date.

Improve Your Skills with This Simple Guide to Catching FishGet started fishing or get better at it with secret tips and easy-to-follow instructions. Skip all the fluff and go straight to the information you want to know in this photo-illustrated booklet. Pocket-size format-easier than laminated foldouts Introductory information for beginners, including everything you need to know about rods, reels, lines, lures, and more "Target species" section focusing on desirable types of fish, with equipment recommendations and tricks for catching each species Ideas for preparing your fish for the table Expert author with a lifetime of experience

This book serves as an advanced text on fisheries and fishery population dynamics and as a reference for fisheries scientists. It provides a thorough treatment of contemporary topics in quantitative fisheries science and emphasizes the link between biology and theory by explaining the assumptions inherent in the quantitative methods. The analytical methods are accessible to a wide range of biologists, and the book includes numerous examples. The book is unique in covering such advanced topics as optimal harvesting, migratory stocks, age-structured models, and size models.

This book is aimed at walkers, wild swimmers, kayakers, divers, in fact anyone exploring the coastline whether along the shore,on, or under the water. No doubt it will give equal pleasure to the armchair explorer. Lou's entertaining and clear writing showcases the life stories of a wide selection of coastal inhabitants; from barnacles and jellyfish, to seals and lichens and is brought to life by full colour, professional quality images from her own collection.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the world's premier fishing grounds. This book is designed to help you learn about and identify its most common sport fish. Fascinating facts about habitat, Gulf distribution, world records, edibility and more make this a must-have, while the waterproof pages are perfect for use on the boat or pier. With this handy field guide, identifying your catch has never been easier or more enjoyable!

The British beach is full of creatures that we think we know - from crabs to clams, starfish to anemones. But, in fact, we barely understand how many survive or thrive. In Rock Pool the delights of childhood paddling are elevated to oceanic discoveries, as the fragile beauty and drama of intertidal existence is illustrated through the incredible lives of twenty-four individual creatures. Rock Pool is the eye-opening account of a life-long passion by a talented writer and naturalist.

Beginning life in the Sargasso Sea, the eel travels across the ocean, lives for twenty or so years, and then is driven by some instinct back across the ocean to spawn and die. And the next generation starts the story again. No one knows why the eels return, or how the orphaned elvers learn their way back. One man discovered, after many adventures, the breeding ground of all eels ? and he is the hero of this book.

Eels were being caught and consumed 5000 years before the birth of Christ ? Aristotle and Pliny wrote about them; Romans regarded them as a peerless delicacy; Egyptians accorded them semi-sacred status; English kings died of overeating them. There are many strange practices among eel fishers all over the world, and many great fortunes based upon the eel harvest.

The Book of Eels, a combination of social comment, biography and natural history, is also a fascinating and witty account of Tom Fort?s obsession with the eel, his journeying to discover the eel in all its habitats, and the people he meets in his pursuit.

'Everyone who loves the sea and what's in it should own this book.' Bill Bryson From the blue whale to the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, this handbook is the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date reference to each of the world's 90 species of cetaceans. With more than 1,000 meticulous and specially commissioned illustrations - complete with flukes, blows and dive sequences - it includes detailed annotations pointing out significant field marks, as well as extensive distribution and migration maps. Many of the world's most respected whale biologists have collaborated on the text, helping to provide the ultimate guide to the identification, distribution, behaviour, life history and conservation of every species and subspecies of whale, dolphin and porpoise. This is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in these truly spectacular animals.

Record your fishing successes-for data or for fun!Every great angler has a story or two, but do you remember all the details? When did you catch it? Where were you fishing? How big was it . . . really? Those answers and more can be recorded forever in the Fishing Journal. Keep track of the "what," where," and "how many," and create a personalized keepsake to look back upon year after year. As an added bonus, this logbook included callouts and sidebars of information: trivia, famous fishing quotes, and more. Anglers of all ages will enjoy putting this journal to use.

"A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes" is a comprehensive, current, and accurate identification guide to the more than 1,000 nearshore and offshore fishes that live in brackish and marine waters from Maine to Texas.

Val Kells and Kent Carpenter bring decades of experience to this project. With Kells' detailed, vivid illustrations and Carpenter's deep knowledge of biology, taxonomy, and nomenclature, this book captures the stunning diversity of species along America's eastern shores. Key features of the book include:

- more than 1,000 full-color illustrations, set side-by-side with descriptions of each fish- details about the biology of each species- habitat, distribution, and size information

Reliable and up-to-date, "A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes" is the most complete book ever published on East and Gulf Coast fishes--perfect for boat, home, or classroom. Its beautiful design and accessible format make it an ideal guide for fishermen, divers, students, scientists, naturalists, and fish enthusiasts alike.