Marine biology Books

Book SynopsisWith the whimsy and heart of The Soul of an Octopus and the surprising details of the very best science writing, The Curious World of Seahorses brilliantly captures the ocean’s most charismatic and mysterious inhabitant."When God created the seahorse," says one marine biologist, "he may have had one too many."Of all the creatures in the ocean, there are none more charming and magical—or more strange—than the seahorses. Masters of disguise, graceful dancers, and romantic lovers, seahorses are found not only in the seagrass meadows and mangroves of the world, but also throughout the annals of human history and culture—surfacing everywhere from chess and Greek mythology to Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Pokémon games.Equipped with a pouch like a kangaroo, a long snout like an anteater, and complete with a crown unique as a human fingerprint, the seahorse defies easy categorization. The only fish to swim in an upright position, seahorses are terrible swimmers, but they make up for it with an incredible talent for holding onto seagrass or coral. They have no stomach or teeth—only intestines. Most seahorses are monogamous, and meet with their life partner every few weeks to perform a dance that can last up to nine hours. The most unique aspect of the seahorse is their reproductive cycle, as it is the male of the species who becomes pregnant.In this entertaining and informative book, science writer Till Hein shares the most tantalizing findings from the world of seahorses, and the role they have played in human culture. He reveals their secrets, from their intriguing biological features and hunting strategy to their use in medicine throughout history, their appearances in Greek and Celtic mythology, and even the medieval belief that they descended from dragons.Endlessly fascinating and charmingly approachable, The Curious World of Seahorses will captivate any reader looking to learn more about one of the most incredible creatures on Earth.Trade Review“A quirky little book, the kind that captures the imagination. This is a deep and entertaining dive into the world of the one-of-a-kind sea animal, our fascination with them, their future in a time of climate change and their importance to communities around the world.”—The Toronto Star"[An] illuminating—and sobering—overview of arguably the most magical creature in the sea... Hein exposes humans as horrific threats to these marvelous beings’ lives and habitats. Readers will remain fascinated and, hopefully, concerned long past the final page."—Booklist STARRED ReviewAn enlightening deep-dive... A diverting look at an aquatic wonder.”—Publishers Weekly“Whether speaking taxonomically, mythologically, physiologically, or historically, seahorses truly are a bit of an enigma. The Curious World of Seahorses covers everything most people know about seahorses and a whole bunch more you'd never guess about them. Each chapter helps the read explore and gain some insight into the everyday life of the seahorse, as well as tell the story of human fascination with the tiny horse of the sea. Definitely a great read for anyone intrigued by the marine world and certainly for lovers of the seahorse.”—Renee Becher,The Crowded Bookshelf"Not just a compelling read, but also a love letter to the strangest creatures of the ocean—seahorses.—Frauke Bagusche, author of The Blue Wonder"This delightful book plunges deeply into the strange lives of one of the ocean’s most enigmatic groups of fishes. From mystery to myth, history to technology, exploitation to protection, Till Hein’s book should appeal to a wide readership."—Jonathan Balcombe, author of Super Fly and What a Fish Knows"An easy read, yet chock-full of information. Till Hein makes clear that protecting seahorses is a vital step toward healing the entire ocean."—Daniel Pauly, principal investigator at The Sea Around Us and author of Vanishing Fish"Every chapter in this book makes me more obsessed with seahorses. The slowest swimming yet most effective hunters in the ocean? Check. Eyes that can move separately from each other, fin color that change on demand, and a digestive system with no stomach? Check! A prehensile tail that is strong enough to latch onto an anchor and withstand a predator's grab? Check! Indeed, this book is a treasure trove of everything scientific, mythic, and magic about these remarkable creatures. Saddle up for a mind-bending read!"—Wendy Wasserman, Politics & Prose

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Book SynopsisOn rocky coastlines, receding tides leave standing pools that have long held a fascination for the amateur seashore naturalist, revealing glimpses of colourful and curious marine plants and animals. Animal diversity is far greater in the sea than in terrestrial or freshwater habitats, and the hugely varied fauna of rock pools reflects that fact. Rock pools also undergo dramatic shifts in temperature, salinity and pH, making such habitats crucibles of adaptation and change. This Naturalists’ Handbook offers a comprehensive introduction to this captivating world, with chapters covering rock-pool ecology, seaweeds, animals, identification and guidelines for possible fieldwork and further study. Also presented are detailed keys to all the main groups likely to be encountered when rockpooling around Britain and Ireland – from sea squirts to chitons, from anemones to sea spiders, from amphipods to fishes. Rock pools is an indispensable tool in discovering these kaleidoscopic habitats and their multitudinous inhabitants.Trade Review...in many places we will come across rock pools full of wonderful wildlife, but can you ID them? This book will help you... ideal to get your children/grandchildren into searching the rock pools. -- John Miles, birdwatching.co.ukThe illustrations are very well done and the information contained in the book show Peters in-depth knowledge of the species that occupy this amazing environment...Congratulations to Peter and Pelagic Publishing for producing a book that deserves to be used as the definitive guide to rock pools. -- Neil Garrick Maidment, British Naturalists' AssociationThis excellent volume, the next in the series of Naturalists’ Handbooks, now under Pelagic Publishing, gives the physical, chemical and ecological features of rock pools (with data diagrams), and their dominant fauna and flora. It gives excellent keys and drawings as well as many photographs, all of a high quality as expected in all of Peter’s works. The book will be of immense help to high-school and university students and amateur naturalists on and after being on the shore. -- Mike Elliot, The Marine BiologistTable of ContentsEditor’s preface Acknowledgements About the author About Naturalists’ Handbooks 1. Introduction 2. The pool environment 3. Rock-pool seaweeds 4. Rock-pool animals 5. Identification Key A Guide to major invertebrate animal groups Key B Sessile, modular animals Key C Sea spiders (Pycnogonida) Key D Isopods Key E Amphipods Key F Decapods Key G Shelled gastropods Key H Chitons Key I Bivalves Key J Polychaetes Key K Heterobranchia Key L Sea anemones Key M Echinoderms Key N Rock-pool fishes 6. Investigating rock pools 7. References and further reading Index

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Book SynopsisHarmful algal blooms (HABs) - blooms that cause fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, or cause human or ecological health impacts and harm to local economies - are occurring more often, in more places and lasting longer than in past decades. This expansion is primarily the result of human activities, through increased nutrient inputs and various aspects of climate change.The Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) programme promoted international collaboration to understand HAB population dynamics in various oceanographic regimes and to improve the prediction of HABs.This volume introduces readers to the overarching framework of the GEOHAB programme, factors contributing to the global expansion of harmful algal blooms, the complexities of HABs in different habitats, and the forward-looking issues to be tackled by the next generation of GEOHAB, GlobalHAB. The programme brought together an international team of contributing scientists and ecosystem managers, and its outcomes will greatly benefit the international research community.Table of Contents

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"I am at a loss for words to tell you how much I have appreciated this book."---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds"The most fantastic book. . . . It’s really accessible, explains in really clear, clear detail how the oceans work, how they change, what real impacts the ocean can have in our lives, and overall it’s a fascinating read."---Ken Whelan, Mooney Goes Wild, RTÉ Radio 1"Time for a real coffee-table book, one to dip into whenever you feel like plunging far beyond where scuba can take you. This, like Inshore Fishes above, is an offering from Princeton University Press, which has form in producing attractively produced books for divers to enjoy. . . . [The authors’] tone is scientific but always accessible, so it depends on how much deep information you want or need – the contents feel comprehensive – but for many of us it’s the photography that will be the main attraction."---Steve Weinman, Divernet ​​​​​​​"Strikingly beautiful . . . . Packed with images and illustrations of the life found in this dark and cold environment. . . . Whether you just love the ocean and want to learn more, or whether you are a budding marine biologist, this is a book that you are going to want to add to your bookshelf."---Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown​​​​​​​, Scubaverse"[This book] dissipates ignorance with superb colour photographs of astonishing organisms."---Andrew Robinson, Nature"Any individual unfamiliar with, but interested in, the deep sea should meet no challenges in learning much from this book."---S.R. Fegley, Choice"A fascinating visual account of one of the planet's last great frontiers. . . . [It] reveals the amazing diversity of undersea organisms." * Outdoor Photography *""An outstanding book.""---Roy Stewart, British Naturalists Association"[A] must read."---Geoff Carpentier, North Durham Nature Newsletter

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Book SynopsisGet submerged in the amazing world of sharks! Your expert host, award-winning marine biologist Dr. David Shiffman, will show you howand whywe should protect these mysterious, misunderstood guardians of the ocean. Sharks are some of the most fascinating, most ecologically important, most threatened, and most misunderstood animals on Earth. More often feared than revered, their role as predators of the deep have earned them a reputation as a major threat to humans. But the truth is that sharks are not a danger to usthey're in danger from us. In Why Sharks Matter, marine conservation biologist Dr. David Shiffman explains why it's crucial that we overcome our misconceptions and rise above cinematic jump scares to embrace sharks as the imperiled and elegant ocean guardians they really are. Sharing his own fascinating experiences working with sharks, Shiffman tells us why healthy shark populations are a must for supporting ocean ecosystemsand the coastal economies that depend on them whTrade ReviewShiffman says he wants 'to teach you why sharks are remarkable and awe-inspiring animals, why we're better off with sharks than we are without them, and what you can do to help protect the alarming and increasing number of sharks of conservation concern.' He succeeds on all counts.—San Francisco ChronicleThe argument of Shiffman's book is that we should do a better job of protecting sharks, and his method is to dip analysis and policy recommendations in a sugar coating of cool facts. For Shiffman, our inability to conceptualize relative risk is both an ecological and aesthetic tragedy, undermining conservation efforts while preventing us from exulting in the glory of sharks—with their dermal denticles, their total lack of bones and their ability to hear an injured fish from a mile away.—Molly Young, New York TimesWhether this book makes you pause and reflect on your perception of sharks, or teaches you some new facts about these predators, Shiffman hopes he has shed light on human side of shark conservation through this work.—Forbes[Shiffman] delivers the book he was born to write.—The RevelatorJoin award-winning marine biologist Dr. David Shiffman in an approachable, humorous and adventure-packed narrative about sharks—the mysterious guardians of the ocean. You'll learn why we should overcome our misconceptions regarding these creatures, delve deep into Shiffman's own experiences with sharks, and explore decades of scientific research and policymaking related to shark conservation.—Scuba DivingA fun, engaging and informative read.—Biological ConservationWritten by a US shark-conservation expert with a solid academic background...[Shiffman] question[s] the easy assumptions we divers sometimes make for emotional reasons about protecting sharks, rather than being guided by the science.—DivernetShiffman is quick to celebrate those who advance the interests of sharks, profiling a diverse group of dedicated scientists (itself laudable in a field dominated by white men). His bluntness and specificity is refreshing in the face of so much advocacy that just sets its sights at 'raising awareness.'—New ScientistShiffman is an entertaining writer, not afraid to nerd out over sharks and share plenty of interesting stories. But what I really appreciate is that every piece of information is grounded in science. Think of it as the anti-Shark Week: the book is entertaining and informative without being sensational or lurid.—Cool Green Science (The Nature Conservancy)Those that want to learn more about sharks and their conservation will find [Why Sharks Matter] a valuable resource. Shiffman is aiming to educate this generation and inspire them to help make the difference that will see shark populations rebuild....As such, this is a book as much about people as it is about sharks.—Colin A. Simpfendorfer, Current BiologyA humorous and pleasant read, packed with lots of facts and stories.—The Marine BiologistTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1. Shark Basics, and Fun Facts to Keep You ReadingChapter 2. Sharks Are Not a Threat to HumansChapter 3. The Ecological Significance of Sharks Chapter 4. What Are the Threats to Sharks and How Threatened Are They? Chapter 5. How Can We Protect Sharks? Chapter 6. Sustainable Fisheries for Shark Conservation: Target-Based PoliciesChapter 7. Fishing and Trade Bans for Shark Conservation: Limit-Based PoliciesChapter 8. How Are Scientists Helping Sharks?Chapter. How Are Environmentalists Helping Sharks?Chapter 10. How Can You Help Sharks? (Dos and Please Just Don'ts)AfterwordAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndexColor plates follow page ___

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents1. List of Species and List of Species Contents2. Skin3. Locomotory System4. Respiratory System and Circulatory System, including Lymphatics Thymus and Spleen5. Head and Sensory Systems6. Nervous System7. Body Control: Endocrine System and Peripheral Nervous System8. Digestive System9. Urinary and Genital System10. Regional Anatomy Including Developmental Anatomy11. References and Further Reading

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Book SynopsisThis practical pocket guide, published in association with the Wildlife Trusts, includes nearly 180 species that live in the area between land and sea called the intertidal, or littoral, zone. The seashore is home to plants and animals that are usually very different in form from their land-based relatives. This guide includes all the most common shells, molluscs, crustaceans, seaweeds, fishes, spiny creatures such as starfishes and sea urchins, mammals and many other species found on the seashore. Each species account includes accurate artworks and a concise written account that covers essential details such as size, general description, habitat, ecology, and distribution in Britain and the near Continent. The easy-to-follow layouts and illustrations aid quick and precise identification, making this book an indispensable reference in the field as well as at home. It is compact enough to fit in the pocket, yet packed with essential information for nature enthusiasts.Table of ContentsIntroduction Characteristics of Seashore Wildlife Zonation of Seashore Life Splash Zone Upper Shore Middle Shore Lower Shore Seashore Habitats Rocky Shores Rock Pools Shingle Beaches Sandy Shores Muddy Shores & Salt Marshes Seashore Wildlife Seaweeds Flowering Plants Lichens Sponges Jellyfishes Sea-anemones Bristle Worms Molluscs Crustaceans Insects Sea-spiders Echinoderms Birds Mammals

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Book SynopsisOur oceans are becoming increasingly inhospitable to life-growing toxicity and rising temperatures coupled with overfishing have led many marine species to the brink of collapse. This book tells stories of jellyfish both attractive and deadly while illuminating many interesting and unusual facts about their behaviors and environmental adaptations.Trade Review"A comprehensive summary of the irresistible rise of an arguably unstoppable creature." (Nature) "Stung! evokes the danger of jellyfish blooms but, even more fundamentally, it is about the real effect of the collapsing oceans.... Extremely important, wellwritten, and well documented." (Huffington Post) "This well-researched book is not just about jellyfish, but rather about the current and future state of the world's oceans. Gershwin has done a superb job.... As she guides readers through the basics of jellyfish biology, she shows how the characteristics of these animals make them ideally suited to take over stressed envrionments and gives examples of how they have already done just that.... Highly recommended." (Choice) "Gershwin is a scientist who can write. She is a scientist, a conservationist, a public conscience, and a prophet. 'Prophet' is a mantle which nobody dons willingly because part of the definition of 'prophet' is that nobody listens to the warning until it is too late. It is probably not too late yet. So read Stung!. Then start making noise." (Audubon)"

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Book SynopsisRelating his experiences caring for endangered whales, a veterinarian and marine scientist shows we can all share in the salvation of these imperiled animals.Trade Review"This is a truly compelling, captivating, and in places heart-wrenching story of one scientist's journey through a career dealing with a highly endangered species whose very predicament is our fault and whose recovery is also our responsibility, as bycatch is preventable. The power lies with the reader. We are all consumers and hence all culpable in the environmental costs of fish products and goods and services transported at sea. Coexistence is possible, perhaps within our lifetime, and Moore's book lays the foundation for work yet to come on how to make that coexistence a reality."--Moira Brown, Canadian Whale InstituteTable of ContentsPreface 1 Young Man, There Are No Whales Left 2 The First Whale I Had Ever Seen 3 Whaling with Intent 4 The Bowhead Is More than Food 5 Whaling by Accident 6 Treating Whales 7 Our Skinny Friend 8 Taking the Long View: Why Can’t We Let Right Whales Die of Old Age? Postscript 1: Getting Really Cold Postscript 2: A Lonely Tunnel with No Light at the End Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Rowan Wright makes a strong case for how choices—big and small, collective and individual—can change the world." * Publishers Weekly *"Rowan Wright’s book emits passion and fire coupled with a growing urgency to 'put things right'—to make good our failings to protect the life of seas and oceans. Wright highlights good practice and encourages its dissemination and adaptation where possible, whilst castigating politicians for ignoring the science and aligning themselves with those who would exploit our seas to the point at which they become lifeless. . . . This book is simply too important not to be read by the general public, marine scientists, ecological/environmental conservationists, representatives of marine-based industries and especially politicians; and since most of it is jargon-free there really is no excuse." -- Stephen R. Hoskins CBiol FRSB FLS * The Biologist *"A profound plan to save the seas. . . . Our ocean life-support system continues to buckle under human pressures. We have been approaching marine conservation backward, Rowan Wright argues at the outset of her new book, Future Sea. Instead of regulating individual fisheries or putting boundaries around select areas of the ocean, we need to protect the whole thing." -- Mary Ellen Hannibal * Science *"In his book Half-Earth, the famous biologist E.O. Wilson proposed setting aside half of the planet’s surface for conservation purposes. Rowan Wright will do you one better; given how important they are for life on the planet, how about we completely protect the oceans. What, all of it? Yes, not half, all of it. We need a gestalt shift, from ‘default profit and exploitation to default care and respect.’ Such a bold proposal is likely to elicit disbelief and cynicism—’Impossible!’—and Rowan Wright has experienced plenty of that. But hear her out, for sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Future Sea is a surprisingly grounded, balanced, and knowledgeable argument that swayed me because, guess what, the oceans are already protected. . . . I admit that Rowan Wright’s initial brief raised my eyebrows. However, her even-handed treatment of the subject and her insights into environmental law quickly tempered my skepticism. The way forward proposed here will not be easy, and she never pretends it will be, but the urgency with which she makes her case is utterly convincing. Future Sea is a galvanizing book." -- Leon Vlieger * The Inquisitive Biologist *“Future Sea sets out marine policy researcher Rowan Wright’s ideas about how to end destructive industrial activities at sea and enable ocean wildlife to return and thrive. Luckily, she includes steps that anyone, from children to political leaders, can take." * New Scientist *"Future Sea delivers not only the promised 'how' but also the reasons why we should safeguard the ocean from human activities. Advocate and researcher Rowan Wright outlines the critical link between the ocean’s health and our ability to mitigate global warming, the tremendous potential of marine renewable energy, and the ocean’s timeless role as a resource to communities around the world. More profoundly, she argues for its intrinsic value, outside of a human context, noting the vastness and richness of coastal and underwater ecosystems, home to millions of species that are yet unclassified, yet unknown. . . . The times when Rowan Wright draws on her own experiences with ocean life and researching her subjects are when the language is liveliest. Her arguments are most convincing when her own voice is clearest—when the frustration, passion, and will for change of an individual emanate in a kind of slow-burning glow of articulate British restraint. The voice of a single rational, concerned woman make the bolder claims and proposals all the more stealthily convincing. . . . It is her sensitivity to both the complex emotional response to environmental destruction and the profound connections human beings have to the natural world that make the book an effective advocacy tool. I certainly didn’t feel emotionally prepared to take in more environmental ‘bad news,’ but found myself changed after reading the book, feeling that understanding, bearing witness, is also part of making a change. The trick is to move past the paralysis. Rowan Wright pinpoints what is perhaps the greatest challenge, our current global leadership vacuum, describing her dream of ‘leaders with compassion and integrity.’ The implicit message is that for good leadership, too, we all bear some responsibility." -- Megin Jimenez * Chicago Review of Books *"A solutions-oriented read about the dire state of our oceans and how we can better protect them. . . . Books about climate change are often rife with doomy predictions, but Future Sea brims with hopeful stories of communities around the world that are working to protect and conserve our oceans. Our seas face many threats, including climate change, pollution, and overfishing, but this book is solutions-oriented. A marine-policy researcher, Rowan Wright puts forth a sweeping—if somewhat radical—plan that offers total protection of all oceans on Earth and all of their living inhabitants. The book also includes actions individuals can take right now to be better stewards of the seas." -- Amy Brady * LitHub *"A very stimulating and rewarding read." -- Mark AveryOne of 2020's "12 books on climate and environment for the holidays." * Yale Climate Connections *“Rowan Wright combines insightful conversations with brilliant minds in marine science with vivid storytelling and detailed analysis to renew readers’ sense of hope that it is not too late to save our seas. . . . All at once eye-opening, thought-provoking, rage-inducing, and empowering, Future Sea is an excellent read for ocean lovers.” -- Rishad Maynard * Marine Biologist *“If you want to get into understanding ocean management—this is the book for you! If you want to know what your government can be doing to help the ocean—this is the book for you! If you just love the ocean, you guessed it—this is the book for you! To all my nature lovers, ocean swimmers, and people who want to see the world not go up in flames.” * Teenage Reads *"An ambitious and useful handbook. . . . It is an eye-opening book that will fill your soul with the right amount of optimism and call for action. It will tell you in an easy-to-read, step-by-step outline of how to save the planet’s seas." * a la luz *"Combines a legal scholar’s understanding of arcane theories and doctrines . . . with a modern conservation practitioner’s knowledge of the many threats to ocean populations and ecosystems. . . . Timely and provocative. . . . Rowan Wright provides us optimists with a roadmap to substantially restore the health of ocean ecosystems. It’s been a few weeks since I finished reading Future Sea and I’m still thinking about it: thinking about how to convince NGOs and governments to start making some big changes. But one of my favorite chapters (‘The Power of Many Small Changes’) lays out a convincing and detailed case that we can all do a lot to reduce our impacts on ocean wildlife: things like reducing our carbon footprint, eating less beef, eating only sustainably harvested seafood, and participating in beach cleanups." * Current Biology *"Independent researcher and ocean advocate Rowan Wright offers an information-packed and carefully crafted review of challenges to the life and health of oceans... Her passionate engagement and work with environmental NGOs, including Friends of the Earth and Marinet (a fish conservation network), have gained her familiarity with relevant international law—the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and the Convention on Biological Diversity—mandating comprehensive stewardship of the oceans. Rowan Wright's unsentimental analysis shows that well-intentioned conventions can suffer from three failings: weak governance, flimsy monitoring, and minimal compliance. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *“In Future Sea, Rowan Wright makes a convincing call to optimism. From ‘Inky the octopus’ to the Law of the Sea convention she provides a cogent, easy-to-read argument for protecting the whole of our blue marble planet. A fast read on a deep subject, this thoughtful book will leave you feeling empowered to take the plunge, understanding that in saving the natural abundance and diversity of our seas we’re really saving ourselves.” -- David Helvarg, author of "Saved by the Sea" and "The Golden Shore"“Rowan Wright’s book is a clear call to action to modernize the Law of the Sea so that it can deal with the changes in society, in the sea, on land, and in the atmosphere that have arisen since it came into force in 1994. This is the freshest, most sensible, and most optimistic perspective I have seen in a long time. I enjoy very much the positive, can-do approach. Very motivating.” -- Drew Harvell, Cornell University, author of "A Sea of Glass" and "Ocean Outbreak"Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Back-to-Front World 2. The Laws of Life 3. Teeming Seas 4. The Free Sea 5. Theory to Reality 6. Counteroffensive 7. Worrying about the Wrong Stuff 8. The Silver Bullet? 9. The Power of Many Small Changes 10. Finding Like Minds Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"There is no one better to synthesize more than a century of research on behavior and ecology of Pacific salmon and trout. Quinn has marshalled his extensive experience in conducting salmon and trout research from Alaska to New Zealand to produce a technically comprehensive, highly readable, and beautifully illustrated volume as befits these noble fishes." * Quarterly Review of Biology *"The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout has rightly been described as a classic... It shows us exactly how in the right hands a huge volume of detailed and complex research can be presented in a manner that is highly authoritative and at the same time highly engaging." * Environmental Biology of Fishes *

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Book SynopsisFishes of the Salish Sea is the definitive guide to the identification and history of the marine and anadromous fishes of Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca. This comprehensive three-volume set, featuring striking illustrations of the Salish Sea's 260 fish species by noted illustrator Joseph Tomelleri, details the ecology and life history of each species and recounts the region's rich heritage of marine research and exploration. Beginning with jawless hagfishes and lampreys and ending with the distinctive Ocean Sunfish, leading scientists Theodore Wells Pietsch and James Orr present the taxa in phylogenetic order, based on classifications that reflect the most current scientific knowledge. Illustrated taxonomic keys facilitate fast and accurate species identification. These in-depth, thoroughly documented, and yet accessible volumes will prove invaluable to marine biologists and ecologists, natural resource managers, anglers, divers, students, and all who want toTrade Review"Every so often, a new book comes along that when first seen causes me simply to stop and stare at it in awe with mouth agape. . . . Written by Theodore W. Pietsch and James Wilder Orr, and filled with breath-taking illustrations by renowned artist Joseph Tomelleri, this trio of books present the 260 species of the marine and anadromous fishes of Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca, including information on their ecology and life histories." * Well-Read Naturalist, The *"Whether you’re a scientist, angler or teacher, or you’re just plain fond of fish, this set is a treat to savor and marvel over." * Columns *"In Fishes of the Salish Sea, Pietsch and Orr provide a definitive guide to marine and anadromous fishes of Washington State and British Columbia. . . . This set is suitable for use by fisheries researchers and professionals as a key to the species found in the Salish Sea, but it will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in the fish of the Pacific Northwest in particular or a more general interest in natural history or the art of nature." * Choice *"Will be useful for scientists, anglers, educators and others in identifying Salish fishes, tracking the distribution and abundance of known species, assessing the health of their habitat and determining when these populations might be in danger of disappearing." * Phys.org *"The definitive guide to the coastal fish of Washington State and British Columbia is as lovely as it is weighty. . . . Luminous color illustrations of each fish set against a white background make this a work of art, as well as an unmatched scientific reference." * Natural History Magazine *"[T]his monumental effort represents many years of work, tremendous attention to detail, and an obvious love for the subject." * Quarterly Review of Biology *"Stunning, lavish, comprehensive, and accurate: these 4 words epitomize Pietsch and Orr’s (2019) new magnum opus on the diversity, identification, ecology, and distribution of the 260 fish species that inhabit the Pacific Northwest’s Salish Sea." * Northwest Naturalist *Table of ContentsContents of Volume OnePreface ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction 3What Is the Salish Sea? 3What Fishes Are Included? 6The Names of Fishes 7Taxonomic Accounts 8Anatomical Considerations 9Use of the Keys 9About the Illustrations 10Historical Perspective 12Origins and Present Distribution of the Salish Sea Ichthyofauna 44Pictorial Keys to the Families of Salish Sea Fishes 62A Classification of Salish Sea Fishes 77Describers of Salish Sea Fishes 84Glossary 103References 111Index of Biographical Names 195Index of Scientific and Common Names 199Contents of Volume TwoFamily and Species AccountsMyxinidae, Hagfishes 217Petromyzontidae, Lampreys 220Chimaeridae, Chimaeras 225Alopiidae, Thresher Sharks 228Cetorhinidae, Basking Sharks 231Lamnidae, Mackerel Sharks 234Scyliorhinidae, Cat Sharks 237Triakidae, Hound Sharks 240Carcharhinidae, Requiem Sharks 243Hexanchidae, Cow Sharks 246Somniosidae, Sleeper Sharks 251Squalidae, Dogfish Sharks 254Squatinidae, Angel Sharks 257Torpedinidae, Electric Rays 260Rajidae, Skates 263Acipenseridae, Sturgeons 275Nemichthyidae, Snipe Eels 280Engraulidae, Anchovies 283Clupeidae, Herrings and Sardines 285Cyprinidae, Carps 293Bathylagidae, Deepsea Smelts 296Osmeridae, Smelts 299Salmonidae, Salmon and Trouts 312Sternoptychidae, Marine Hatchetfishes 334Stomiidae, Dragonfishes 338Synodontidae, Lizardfishes 341Alepisauridae, Lancetfishes 344Paralepididae, Barracudinas 348Myctophidae, Lanternfishes 351Lampridae, Opahs 366Trachipteridae, Ribbonfishes 369Merlucciidae, Hakes 372Gadidae, Cods 376Atherinopsidae, New World Silversides 384Scomberesocidae, Sauries 388Cyprinodontidae, Pupfishes 391Aulorhynchidae, Tubesnouts 394Gasterosteidae, Sticklebacks 397Syngnathidae, Pipefishes 401Scorpaenidae, Rockfishes and Thornyheads 404Moronidae, Temperate Basses 468Bramidae, Pomfrets 471Sciaenidae, Drums and Croakers 475Sphyraenidae, Barracudas 48300i-Carangidae, Jacks 485Embiotocidae, Surfperches 489Trichodontidae, Sandfishes 505Ammodytidae, Sand Lances 508Gobiidae, Gobies 511Trichiuridae, Cutlassfishes 519Scombridae, Mackerels and Tunas 523Centrolophidae, Medusafishes 529Stromateidae, Butterfishes 533Icosteidae, Ragfishes 536Gobiesocidae, Clingfishes 539Plates 1–81 542Index of Biographical Names 627Index of Scientific and Common Names 631Contents of Volume ThreeFamily and Species AccountsAnoplopomatidae, Sablefishes 649Hexagrammidae, Greenlings 652Rhamphocottidae, Grunt Sculpins 667Cottidae, Sculpins 670Hemitripteridae, Sea Ravens 743Agonidae, Poachers 748Psychrolutidae, Fatheads 784Cyclopteridae, Lumpsuckers 796Liparidae, Snailfishes 799Bathymasteridae, Ronquils 826Zoarcidae, Eelpouts 829Stichaeidae, Pricklebacks 843Cryptacanthodidae, Wrymouths 869Pholidae, Gunnels 874Anarhichadidae, Wolffishes 885Ptilichthyidae, Quillfishes 888Zaproridae, Prowfish 890Scytalinidae, Graveldivers 894Ophidiidae, Cusk- eels 896Bythitidae, Viviparous Brotulas 899Batrachoididae, Toadfishes 903Paralichthyidae, Sand Flounders 906Pleuronectidae, Righteye Flounders 912Cynoglossidae, Tonguefishes 946Molidae, Molas 949Plates 82–155 952Index of Biographical Names 1029Index of Scientific and Common Names 1033

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Book SynopsisThe coast cannot be left to nature to determine its fate. Wealth, property, economic interests, recreation, tourism and wildlife are all threatened. Coasts are an administrative battle ground and one of the most important and widely examined topics in environmental management.Coastal and Estuarine Management examines the issues surrounding the human use and abuse of estuarine and coastal environments. Emphasising the importance and significance of this natural resource, the uses and conflicts which occur and the results of human activity, this book explains the ways in which conservation and management policies and practices can protect this productive and diverse ecosystem.Examples and real-life case studies illustrate the effect of human intervention, both from an historic and contemporary perspective. Exposing the environmental consequences of estuarine pollution, Peter French highlights the need for management strategies to promote a sustainable development ethic fTrade Review'The text is written in a lucid but nontechnical style and should be amenable to all students of environmental management...this text has the capacity to influence the attitudes of the next generation of coastal managers.' - Progress in Physical Goegraphy, Vol 23, No.1 1999"The only 'textbook' which is both up-to-date and conprehensive in its coverage of this fast-developing subject" Dr Geoff Walker, West England UniversityTable of Contents1 Introduction to estuarine and coastal systems 2 The physical regime of coasts and estuaries 3 Land claim and coastal defence 4 The industrial use of coasts and estuaries 5 Coastal development for tourism 6 Causes of indirect impacts on the coast 7 Management frameworks for coastal and estuarine systems; The final word

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis book began life as a series of lectures given to second and third year undergraduates at Oxford University. These lectures were designed to give students insights as to how marine ecosystems functioned, how they were being affected by natural and human interventions, and how we might be able to conserve them and manage them sustainably for the good of people, both recreationally and economically. This book presents 10 chapters, beginning with principles of oceanography important to ecology, through discussions of the magnitude of marine biodiversity and the factors influencing it, the functioning of marine ecosystems at within trophic levels such as primary production, competition and dispersal, to different trophic level interactions such as herbivory, predation and parasitism. The final three chapters look at the more applied aspects of marine ecology, discussion fisheries, human impacts, and management and conservation. Other textbooks covering similar topics tend to treat Trade Review"This work by Speight and Henderson (both, Oxford Univ., UK) details physical and chemical marine environments and their effect on various organisms and ecological functions. The book is divided into 10 chapters. The first two chapters address essential aspects of oceanography, including factors such as ocean currents, temperature, salinity, and various elements in sea water and their influence on marine organisms. Subsequent chapters focus on the diversity of organisms in various oceanic realms, factors underlying the distribution and diversity of organisms, and the functional aspects of the oceans, including primary production, chemosynthesis, predation, parasitism, and more.Concluding chapters address the larger picture, including global fisheries, sustainable exploitation of marine resources, anthropogenic impacts on oceans, and conservation of marine resources. Appropriate examples and graphs illustrate the points made in each chapter. Pictures and graphics are excellent." (CHOICE, December 2010) "This is a well organized, easily read text that provides a useful introduction to marine ecology for senior undergraduate students...teachers looking for an up-to-date text with a modern approach should, nevertheless, look at this book to see whether it meets their particular course needs." (Aquaculture International, July 2010)Table of ContentsPreface vi Acknowledgments ix 1 The physical template 1 2 Marine biodiversity 27 3 Primary production and chemosynthesis 49 4 Primary consumption: marine herbivores and detritivores 65 5 Predators, parasites, and pathogens 83 6 Competition and succession 107 7 Dispersal and settlement 129 8 The exploitation and maintenance of marine and estuarine fisheries 153 9 Threats to marine ecosystems: the effects of man 169 10 Marine conservation 203 Appendix 239 References 251 Index 271

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Book SynopsisThe visually arresting and often misunderstood octopus has long captured popular imagination. With an alien appearance and an uncanny intellect, this exceptional sea creature has inspired fear in famous lore and legends—from the giant octopus attack in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Ursula the sea witch in The Little Mermaid. Yet its true nature is more wondrous still. After decades of research, the authors reveal a sensitive, curious, and playful animal with remarkable intelligence, an ability to defend itself with camouflage and jet propulsion, an intricate nervous system, and advanced problem-solving abilities. In this beautifully photographed book, three leading marine biologists bring readers face to face with these amazingly complex animals that have fascinated scientists for decades. From the molluscan ancestry of today’s octopus to its ingenious anatomy, amazing mating and predatory behaviors, and other-worldly relatives, the authors take readers through the astounding life cycle, uncovering the details of distinctive octopus personalities. With personal narratives, underwater research, stunning closeup photography, and thoughtful guidance for keeping octopuses in captivity, Octopus is the first comprehensive natural history of this smart denizen of the sea.

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Book SynopsisThis book is an unpretentious editing venture to fill the gap in our current knowledge on the ecological implications caused by anthropogenic disturbances upon benthic communities in several regions of the world, including the Western Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, as well as the pristine environments of the Andes in South America. The common goal of the contributing authors in this book was to unravel the complex processes that make possible the life existence of bottom-living animals in different environmental scenarios. To achieve such a goal, the authors focus their attention on the emerging issues inherent to global climate change or the pollution of aquatic systems. These are all themes that might be of interest to scientists active in a wide range of oceanographic subdisciplines. Well-established researchers would appreciate the innovative approach adopted in each chapter of the book, which extends from the ecosystem level to refined molecular interpretations.

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Book SynopsisThe “Blue Economy” is used to describe all of the economic activities related to the sea, with a special emphasis on sustainability. Traditional activities such as fisheries, but also undersea mining, tourism, and scientific research are included, as well as the phenomenal growth of aquaculture during the past decade. All of these activities, and the irresistible prospect of another new frontier, has led to enthusiastic and, most likely, overenthusiastic assessments of the possibilities to exploit the sea to feed the world, provide low-cost energy, become a new source of minerals, and other future miracles. This book makes sense of these trends and of the future of the blue economy by following our remote ancestors who gradually discovered the sea and its resources, describing the so-called fisherman’s curse – or why fishermen have always been poor, explaining why humans tend to destroy the resources on which we depend, and assessing the realistic expectations for extracting resources from the sea. Although the sea is not so badly overexploited as the land, our demands on ecosystem services are already above the oceans’ sustainability limits. Some new ideas, including “fishing down” for untapped resources such as plankton, could lead to the collapse of the entire marine ecosystem. How Neanderthals crossed the sea in canoes, how it was possible for five men on a small boat to kill a giant whale, what kind of oil the virgins of the Gospel put into their lamps, how a professor of mathematics, Vito Volterra, discovered the “equations of fishing,” why it has become so easy to be stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the sea, and how to play “Moby Dick,” a simple board game that simulates the overexploitation of natural resources are just some of the questions that you will be able to answer after reading this engaging and insightful book about the rapidly expanding relationship between humanity and the sea. Table of ContentsChapter1: Introduction: If a jellyfish stings you, there is a reason.- Chapter2: Man and the sea.- Chapter3: The war against the sea.- Chapter4: Understanding overshoot.- Chapter5: The blue economy.- Chapter6: Conclusion: The horror that came to Sarnath.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAbundance Estimation; Aerial Behavior; Age Estimation; Aggressive Behavior; Albinism; Amazon River Dolphin; Ambergris; Antarctic Fur Seal; Antarctic Marine Mammals; Archaeocetes, Archaic; Arctic Marine Mammals; Atlantic Spotted Dolphin; Atlantic White-sided Dolphin; Australian Sea Lion; Australian Snubfin Dolphin; Baculum; Baiji; Baikal Seal; Balance; Baleen; Baleen Whales (Mysticeti); Baleen Whales, Evolution; Barnacles; Basilosaurids and Kekenodontids; Beaked Whales, Overview; Bearded Seal; Behavior, Overview; Beluga Whale; Berardius Beaked Whales; Biogeography; Biotelemetry; Blubber; Blue Whale; Bones and Teeth, Histology of Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops aduncus, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin; Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus. Common bottlenose dolphin; Bottlenose Whales; Bowhead Whale; Bow-riding; Brain; Breathing; Bryde's Whale; Burmeister's Porpoise; Bycatch; California, Galapagos and Japanese Sea Lions; Callosities; Cape and Australian Fur Seals; Captivity; Caspian Seal; Cephalorhynchus Dolphins; Cetacea, Evolution; Cetacean Ecology; Cetacean Life History; Cetartiodactyla; Circulatory System; Climate Change; Clymene Dolphin; Coloration; Common Dolphin; Communication; Conservation; Crabeater Seal; Culture and Social Learning; Cuvier's Beaked Whale; Dall's Porpoise; Delphinids, Overview; Dental Morphology; Desmostylia; Dialects; Diet; Distribution; Diving Behavior; Diving Physiology; Dolphins, Porpoises, and Monodontids, Evolution; Dugong; Dusky Dolphin; Eared Seals (Otariidae); Earless Seals (Phocidae); Echolocation; Ecology; Elephant Seals; Embryology; Endangered Species and Populations; Endocrine Systems; Energetics; Entanglement of Whales in Fishing Gear; Epimeletic Behavior; Ethics; Evolutionary Patterns; Extinctions, Specific; False Killer Whale; Feeding Morphology; Feeding Strategy and Tactics; Filter Feeding; Fin Whale; Finless Porpoise; Fisheries Interactions; Folklore and Legends; Forelimb Anatomy; Franciscana; Fraser's Dolphin; Gastrointestinal Tract; Genetics and Genomics; Genetics, Forensics; Genetics, Management; Geographic Variation; Gray Seal; Gray Whale; Group Behavior; Guadalupe, Galapagos, and Juan Fernandez Fur Seals; Habitat Pressure; Hair and Fur; Hindlimb Anatomy; Harbor Porpoise; Harbor Seal; Harp Seal; Health; Hearing; History of Marine Mammal Research; Hooded Seal; Hourglass Dolphin; Humpback Dolphins; Humpback Whale; Hunting; Hybridism; Identification Methods; Indo-Pacific Beaked Whale; Intelligence; International Whaling Commission; Inuit and Marine Mammals; Irrawaddy Dolphin; Killer Whale; Krill and other Plankton; Language Learning and Cognitive Skills; Leopard Seal; Locomotion, Terrestrial; Management and Conservation; Manatees; Marine Parks, Zoos, and Aquariums; Marine Protected Areas; Mark-Recapture; Mass Mortalities; Mating Systems; Melon-headed Whale; Mesoplodon Beaked Whales; Migration and Movement Patterns; Mimicry; Minke Whales; Molecular Ecology; Monk Seals; Musculature; Museums and Collections; Narwhal; Neoceti; New Zealand Fur Seal; New Zealand Sea Lion; Noise; Northern Fur Seal; Ocean Environments; Odobenocetops; Omura's Whale; Osmoregulation; Otters; Pacific White-sided Dolphin; Pantropical Spotted Dolphin; Parasites; Parental Behavior; Pathology; Peale's Dolphin; Pilot Whales; Pinniped Ecology; Pinnipedia, Evolution; Pinniped Life History; Pinniped Physiology; Pinnipeds; Playful Behavior; Polar Bear; Pollution; Popular Culture and Literature; Population Dynamics; Porpoises, Overview; Predation on Marine Mammals; Predator-Prey Relationships; Prey Consumption; Pygmy and Dwarf Sperm Whales; Pygmy Killer Whale; Pygmy Right Whale; Remoras; Reproductive Anatomy; Reproductive Behavior; Reproductive Physiology; Ribbon Seal; Right Whale Dolphins; Right Whales; Ringed Seal; Risso's Dolphin; River Dolphins; River Dolphins, Evolution; Ross Seal; Rough-toothed Dolphin; Scrimshaw; Sealing; Sei Whale; Sensory Biology; Sexual Dimorphism; Shepherd's Beaked Whale; Signature Whistles; Sirenian Life History; Sirenian Evolution; Skeleton; Skull; Sociobiology; Song; Sound; Sound Paths; South American Fur Seal; South American Sea Lion; Species & Subspecies; Spectacled Porpoise; Sperm and Beaked Whales, Evolution; Sperm Whale; Spinner Dolphin; Spotted Seal; Steller Sea Lion; Steller's Sea Cow; Stock Identity and Assessment; Strandings; Streamlining; Striped Dolphin; Subantarctic Fur Seal; Surveys; Sustainability; Susu and Bhulan; Swimming; Systematics; Territorial Behavior; Thermoregulation; Thorax and Abdomen, Anatomy; Tool Use; Toothed Whales (Odontoceti); Tourism; Training; Tucuxi and Guiana Dolphins; Tuna-Dolphin Issue; Vaquita; Vision; Walrus; Weddell Seal; Whale Lice; Whaling, Illegal and Pirate; Whaling, Japanese; Whaling, Modern; Whaling, Traditional; Whiskers; White-beaked Dolphin

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Book SynopsisExploring everything from giant squid to sea birds, sharks to sperm whales, this epic voyage with scholar and seafarer Richard J. King provides a new way of approaching Melville's classic sea-yarn: as a book about nature itself.Trade Review"A unique take on Melville...The book is unquestionably well researched: King blends library research with personal experience and draws on interviews with contemporary 'oceanic' professionals, including maritime-historian colleagues, ocean scientists, and sailors. He also provides scores of photographs and other pertinent illustrations. Anyone interested in Melville will find this rich and insightful study fascinating--but those readers curious enough to see Moby-Dick as an oceanographic encyclopedia will benefit most."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Choice" "An exquisitely detailed and gorgeously written book that reminds us of the wonder of Melville's novel and of the natural world in which it takes place. Fascinating accounts and descriptions of whales, swordfish, sharks, giant squid, ambergris, etc., and of the sea itself: then and now. And informed by a writer who has spent years at sea, is now a professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. King gives an original, loving rereading of Melville's novel. He is himself a master storyteller whose handsomely illustrated book is deeply informed and full of delightful surprises."--Jay Neugeboren "Ploughshares" "King's book ballasts one's appreciation for Melville's vision with rich freights of lore, observation, scientific data, and history of ideas. It is an admirable companion to the novel and the mind bold enough to bring it into the world."-- "The Nautilus" "Tired of binge-watching those mind-numbing programs and movies? During this pandemic, we've been warned to exercise regularly and that includes our brain. With extra time for nonessential activities, it's an opportunity to read a few good books--especially venturing into unfamiliar territory. . . . This book is excellent. Even if you haven't read Melville's classic of sea literature, you will be amazed at his command of the environmental world that is its setting. . . . What King says will entertain, inform, amuse and sadden you."--JoAnne Fuerst "The Ellsworth American" "King gives us natural history done Melville-style, looking over a ship's rail, and this ingenious focus neatly weds field science and literary history, yielding a study that is fresh, provocative, and welcome."--William Howarth "American Scholar" "Ultimately, answering these questions involves poetry more than science. Melville has combined the rational, objective, Darwinian perspective with the emotional, poetic, Emersonian perspective, pushing the reader to see nature as both dangerous and damaged. Here is King's main point: that Melville's novel can now be read as an introduction to environmental issues of the twenty-first century."--John P. Loonam "Washington Independent Review of Books" "Richard J King's Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick is both a brilliant reading of the novel and an elegy for the wonders of the sea that we humans are destroying."-- "New Statesman" "Employing Melville's maritime setting as a base camp for this ambitious excursion into our present-day relationship with the ocean and its denizens, Ahab's Rolling Sea is that rarest of scholarly books: one that delights as it informs. . . . Key to the book's success is King's skill as a writer. He weaves impressive research--much of it archival--with his own insightful and enthusiastic prose. Topping it off, the book is filled with a rich assemblage of illustrations, maps, and photographs. King writes, 'Like the industry of whaling itself, Melville reveled in the chance to show how the ugly, dirty deep revealed both man's hypocrisies and nature's treasures.' The same can be said of Ahab's Rolling Sea, a book that, like Melville's novel and like the wonders of the ocean, manages to thrill, to educate, and to inspire."--Matthew Wynn Sivils "Isis" "The chance that someone could write something new and fresh about such a book seems as unlikely as a big haul from our over-fished oceans, yet King achieves this. . . He has produced a powerful ecocritical analysis of Moby-Dick, reinforcing the novel as essential reading for all who sail, paddle, wander or simply ponder on the sea."--Mandy Haggith, Inverness College, University of the Highlands and Islands "Green Letters" "Ahab's Rolling Sea is a wide-ranging, highly personal, richly eclectic, and extremely well-researched book whose style and humor, combined with its rigor, suggest the potential for popularity even beyond the fascinations of this self-confessed whalehead. Who could not warm to a chapter titled 'Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses' or 'Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds, ' or be intrigued by 'Phosphorescence'? There's a Melvillean romance here, and it sits especially well with King's love and empathy for human as well as natural history. A contemporary, witty, almost postmodern field guide."--Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR, The Sea Inside, The Whale, and Leviathan "Anyone who loves Moby-Dick should read this book."--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award-winning In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Why Read 'Moby-Dick'? "Are you? a Moby-Dickhead? If so, are you enough of a Moby-Dickhead to have visited the Phallological Museum in Iceland to inspect a sperm whale's penis? This is one of the many intrepid expeditions undertaken by King in the course of researching Ahab's Rolling Sea. His book, like Moby-Dick itself, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about whales but were too ashamed to ask. The fact that the sperm whale's penis, or 'grandissimus', is four and a half feet long is just one of its juicier details. . . . It turns out that, with due allowance for the state of knowledge in the 1850s, Melville got a surprising amount right about whales: their size, their bone structure, their mass, even their emotional lives. . . . Anyone who isn't completely turned off by sea creatures will enjoy surfing the waves of information that roll genially from this book. Ahab's Rolling Sea also has a big thesis. King argues that Moby-Dick offers a 'proto-Darwinian decentring of the human and the elevation of the whale.' . . . It would be hard to fault either the motives or the facts underlying King's ecological zeal."-- "London Review of Books" "Depending on who you are, reading Moby-Dick, first published in 1851, could be a sleep-inducing slog or a stellar sea yarn of man versus whale. But the book has (sea) legs, and since its release has proved to be one of the most enduring books of American fiction. Its literary merits have been discussed and debated, but King, a professor of maritime literature and history, examines the book as a work of nature writing . . . He does extensive reporting, delving into everything from the rigging of whaleships to the diet of sperm whales."-- "Hakai Magazine" "Herman Melville's sprawling masterpiece Moby-Dick is a fictional feat studded with empirical evidence, reveals maritime historian King in this invigorating study. King traces references to ethology, meteorology, marine microbiota and the oceans to Melville's sailing experience in the Pacific and wranglings with the works of scientists William Scoresby, Louis Agassiz and others. Moby-Dick, King boldly avers, is a 'proto-Darwinian fable'--and its beleaguered narrator, Ishmael, an early environmentalist."-- "Nature" "It took me decades to appreciate that Melville's messy, uncontainable, surging Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest book ever written about the sea, and about the human relationship with the living world, and perhaps the only book sufficiently un-jaded by mercantilism and modernity to be worthy of the actual ocean itself in all its raw, uncontrollable, surging majesty. But if you don't want to wait decades for Melville's magnificence to be revealed, you can cheat and read King's book. Ahab's Rolling Sea is a marvelous guide to the magic and mystery that was Melville's gift to us, for King reveals the deep, deep backstory of the making of Moby-Dick, the vast pots of experience and information that Melville simmered down, and even the missing ingredients of his age, that made Moby-Dick the richest bouillabaisse in all of literature. Oh, and about Melville's missing ingredients--they're here, in King's terrific book."--Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace "King decisively settles any lingering questions about Moby-Dick, nineteenth-century whales and whaling, and all lore and literature of the sea. More than establishing a factual basis for Ishmael's fiction-making, King writes passionately on climate change, economic pressures on sea creatures, and the future Melville confronts in his marvelous encounter with the 'wonder-world' of whaling. King's deep knowledge grounds lively storytelling, keen observations drawn from years of sailing, and an eye for details that will make Melville's book come alive. But even if you haven't read Moby-Dick, you will revel in this storehouse of fascinating tales and arcana, from Ambergris to Zeuglodon. A treasure for library, classroom, or bedside table."--Wyn Kelley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Melville's City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York and Herman Melville: An Introduction "King dissects the language and information available to Melville, including books found within Melville's library, and identifies how edited versions of what was understood at the time were twisted to serve the story. The reader comes to appreciate Melville's thorough natural history research, especially in light of the fact that Moby-Dick was written at a time when it was not yet decided whether whales were fish or mammals, and when scientific knowledge was shoehorned into a religious worldview...I thoroughly enjoyed King's well-researched analysis of the classic tale which 'offers a benchmark for how Americans understood the ocean in the mid-nineteenth century' and in doing so, compares and contrasts this with our perceptions of the ocean today."-- "The Niche" "King reflects on what we have learned and lost from the oceans since Melville's time. He answers questions many readers surely ponder. . . . Naturally, the book is full of spoilers. Read Moby-Dick, read this, then read Moby-Dick again."-- "BBC Wildlife" "King, a visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history (what a fascinating title this is!), runs after the Leviathan of literary semantics in the most imaginative way: testing what Melville and people of his era knew about their natural environment, maritime ecosystems, birds, cetaceans, and whales before he published Moby-Dick in 1851. . . . King does his best not to be another Ahab seeing his 'White Whale' escaping. And he actually makes it: from the detailed research of the marine fauna to the possible influences of Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Bowditch on Melville. This is the retelling of Moby-Dick from an imaginative point of view: from the Pequod towards the cosmos surrounding us in the era of new environmentalism."--Dimitris Doulgeridis "TA NEA (Greece)" "Simply breathtaking, in that it takes one's breath away and refills the lungs with a gust of salty sea breeze...Ahab's Rolling Sea collects accounts from literary criticism, theory, climate activism, and natural history for a deep dive into one of the most popular maritime novels around--Herman Melville's Moby-Dick...The relatability and readability of Ahab's Rolling Sea, at a time when the sea has much receded from daily life, is a testament to King's pedagogical, sailorly, and descriptive mastery. King invites us to stand aloft with him and Ishmael, and look out toward the wonderful, ever-rolling sea. Maybe, if we look close enough, we will even get to see a whale."--Alison Maas "H-Environment" "This examination of Moby-Dick as nature writing could be a sneaky way to get the English majors on your shopping list to read about science."-- "American Scientist" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "This is a superb work of popular scholarship that rivals the best books of maritime nonfiction currently in print. For any teacher, reader, or aficionado of Melville's magnum opus the present work will be a joy to read; for anyone curious about the current state of the marine environment, this book will be eye-opening."--Dan Brayton, Middlebury College, author of "Shakespeare's Ocean: An Ecocritical Exploration" "Ahab's Rolling Sea highlights our destructiveness as it teases fact from fiction in Moby-Dick, the obsessive hunt for a great white whale. . . . Rigorous. . . . Original."--Chris Simms "New Scientist" "A rather schematic structure--Ahab's Rolling Sea could be used as a reference book, a zoological concordance to Moby-Dick--is combined with a genuinely gripping retelling of the tale."--Brian Morton "Times Literary Supplement" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "A treasure trove. King situates Melville as a person of his time, writing amid a quickening pace of discoveries about the natural world but, pre-On the Origin of Species, inclined to couch them as further disclosures of God's design."--Stephen Phillips "Spectator" "I'm an easy mark for books like Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of 'Moby-Dick, ' which I've read a perhaps unhealthy number of times, in light of Annie Dillard's opinion that Melville's baggy masterpiece is the 'best book ever written about nature.' Focusing on nineteenth century oceanography, natural history, and, of course, the whalers' understanding of his prey's remarkable intelligence, King's book is a fascinating and rare thing: a vital addition to Melville studies."--Stephen Sparks "LitHub, 12 Books You Should Read This October" "King uses modern sources and historical texts to take a fresh look at Melville's book--published in the same decade as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species--with the well-defined brief of assessing its natural history content. The result is a lighthearted and incredibly enjoyable read that manages somehow, at the right moments, to be both broad and narrow in scope. It should be required reading for anyone attempting Moby-Dick. . . . No captive of the library, King is an experienced seaman and an open-minded and intrepid guide. A visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, he is willing to pull on his old Sou'wester and sail into the watery part of the world. . . . King writes ably and in scholarly detail about albatrosses, ambergris, baleen, barnacles, seals, sharks, sperm whale behavior and language, swordfish, typhoons, and all sorts of marine and cetological marginalia. . . . [A] talented and clear-eyed . . . writer."--Christopher J. Kemp "Science"Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Herman Melville: Whaleman, Author, Natural Philosopher 2. Numerous Fish Documents 3. Cetology and Evolution 4. White Whales and Natural Theology 5. Whale Migration 6. Wind 7. Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses 8. Small Harmless Fish 9. Phosphorescence 10. Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds 11. Brit and Baleen 12. Giant Squid 13. Sharks 14. Fresh Fare 15. Barnacles and Sea Candies 16. Practical Cetology: Spout, Senses, and the Dissection of Heads 17. Whale and Human Intelligence 18. Ambergris 19. Coral Insects 20. Grandissimus 21. Whale Skeletons and Fossils 22. Does the Whale Diminish? 23. Mother Carey’s Chickens 24. Typhoons and Corpusants 25. Navigation 26. Seals 27. The Feminine Air 28. Noiseless Nautilus 29. Sperm Whale Behavior 30. Sky-Hawk 31. Ishmael: Blue Environmentalist and Climate Refugee Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Figure Credits and Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] excellent book. . . . If you have been indifferent to seaweeds and other algae before reading this book, I guarantee you that you will henceforth see them in a totally different light. You will learn, you will appreciate, you will marvel, and you will yearn to know more."---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds"Dip into this book and the chances are that you’ll start noticing and appreciating underwater plant life in an entirely new way."---Steve Weinman, Divernet"A highly informative, profusely illustrated book."---Anthony Payne, Glasgow Naturalist Society

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewScales's genuine appreciation and awe for fish are contagious. She continually entices the reader by introducing exciting aspects of fish in each chapter. * Science *A delightful book that provides a welcome invitation to enter the amazing world of fish. * New Scientist *An engaging and informative bouillabaisse. * The Economist *A sprawling, ambitious underwater journey studded with fascinating tidbits. * New York Times Book Review *This aquarium of a book is an eloquent reminder of how remarkable [fish] are. * Natural History *Enthralling and thought-provoking * Countryman *Helen Scales invites us to dive below the waterline as she reveals the hidden but glorious lives of fish going about their rather fascinating business. * Coast *Eye of the Shoal is a book brimming with wonders. Shimmering colours, otherworldly abilities, and compelling dramas flood every page, as the masterful Helen Scales brings us eye-to-eye with the world of fishes – creatures who are at once thrillingly strange and startlingly ubiquitous. Whether you snorkel or scuba, whether you meet fish in a tank or on TV, this book is new portal to see our blue planet with new eyes, one that will make you love our world and its creatures all the more. -- Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an OctopusEye of the Shoal is like a beautiful glass bottomed boat that reveals this mysterious realm with joyful passion and perfect clarity. You couldn't have a more knowledgable guide on board than Helen. -- Dallas Campbell, science broadcaster and authorEye of the Shoal is an absorbing account of the least understood area of our planet. Helen brings the depths to life, not only with wondrous accounts from her extensive travels, but also by introducing us to some magnificently improbable characters (both human and piscine), and by astonishing us with mind-blowing facts on every page. -- James Harkin, QI's Head Elf and presenter on the award-winning podcast 'No Such Thing as a Fish'This fantastic and timely book will change your perspective on your pet goldfish, a fishmonger's window display, a darting flash of silver glimpsed from a boat and the colourful world of a coral reef. A must-read for anyone interested in life on Earth. -- Helen Czerski, physicist, oceanographer and author of Storm in a TeacupIf you already love fish wherever they swim, you'll be astonished by so many new discoveries in these pages. If you don't love fish – you surely will.' -- Carl Safina, author of The View From Lazy Point, and Beyond Words: What Animals Think and FeelTable of ContentsPrologue: The wandering ichthyologist Chapter 1: Ichthyo-curiosities Sedna the sea goddess Chapter 2: A view from the deep - introducing the fish How the flounder lost its smile Chapter 3: Outrageous acts of colour The salmon of knowledge Chapter 4: Illuminations O-namazu Chapter 5: Anatomy of a shoal Osiris and the elephantfish Chapter 6: Fish food Vatnagedda Chapter 7: Toxic fish Chipfalamfula Chapter 8: How fish used to be The Doctor of the sea Chapter 9: Fish symphonies The fish and the golden shoe Chapter 10: (Re)thinking fish Epilogue Appendix: Illustration species list Glossary Select bibliography and notes Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisCombining the scientific discoveries with color imagery, this title takes readers on a voyage into the darkest realms of the ocean. It features more than two hundred color photographs of terrifying sea monsters, fossils, and ethereal bioluminescent creatures. It examines the biology of deep-sea organisms, and the history of deep-sea exploration.Trade Review"The Deep is not only the most stunningly beautiful book about the sea ever produced, but also a work of scientific substance, articulated by some of the best, most experienced deep-sea scientists of our time. Even for those of us who have been enchanted by the wondrous life of the deep sea through direct engagement, this book renews the spirit and makes it possible to share with others a vicarious glimpse of the wild ocean." - Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Society "Leafing through The Deep's many pages of awe-inspiring images reminded me of a similar experience I had when I was very young leafing through William Beebe's articles in National Geographic, which inspired me to become an undersea explorer. I know The Deep will have a similar effect on the next generation of explorers." - Robert Ballard, discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic"

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Book SynopsisDive into this uniquely elegant visual exploration of the sea An informative and utterly beautiful introduction to marine life and the ocean environment, Oceanology brings the riches of the underwater world onto the printed page.Astounding photography reveals an abundance of life, from microscopic plankton to great whales, seaweed to starfish. Published in association with the Smithsonian Institution, the book explores every corner of the oceans, from coral reefs and mangrove swamps to deep ocean trenches. Along the way, and with the help of clear, simple illustrations, it explains how life has adapted to the marine environment, revealing for example how a stonefish delivers its lethal venom and how a sponge sustains itself by sifting food from passing currents. It also examines the physical forces and processes that shape the oceans, from global circulation systems and tides to undersea volcanoes and tsunamis.To most of us, the marine worl

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Book SynopsisKing lays bare the background to Moby-Dick by moving through the voyage of the Pequod, exploring topics in marine biology, oceanography, and the science of navigation as Ishmael raises them in the novel.Trade Review"Tired of binge-watching those mind-numbing programs and movies? During this pandemic, we've been warned to exercise regularly and that includes our brain. With extra time for nonessential activities, it's an opportunity to read a few good books--especially venturing into unfamiliar territory. . . . This book is excellent. Even if you haven't read Melville's classic of sea literature, you will be amazed at his command of the environmental world that is its setting. . . . What King says will entertain, inform, amuse and sadden you."--JoAnne Fuerst "The Ellsworth American" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "A unique take on Melville...The book is unquestionably well researched: King blends library research with personal experience and draws on interviews with contemporary 'oceanic' professionals, including maritime-historian colleagues, ocean scientists, and sailors. He also provides scores of photographs and other pertinent illustrations. Anyone interested in Melville will find this rich and insightful study fascinating--but those readers curious enough to see Moby-Dick as an oceanographic encyclopedia will benefit most."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Choice" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "An exquisitely detailed and gorgeously written book that reminds us of the wonder of Melville's novel and of the natural world in which it takes place. Fascinating accounts and descriptions of whales, swordfish, sharks, giant squid, ambergris, etc., and of the sea itself: then and now. And informed by a writer who has spent years at sea, is now a professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. King gives an original, loving rereading of Melville's novel. He is himself a master storyteller whose handsomely illustrated book is deeply informed and full of delightful surprises."--Jay Neugeboren "Ploughshares" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "King gives us natural history done Melville-style, looking over a ship's rail, and this ingenious focus neatly weds field science and literary history, yielding a study that is fresh, provocative, and welcome."--William Howarth "American Scholar" "Ultimately, answering these questions involves poetry more than science. Melville has combined the rational, objective, Darwinian perspective with the emotional, poetic, Emersonian perspective, pushing the reader to see nature as both dangerous and damaged. Here is King's main point: that Melville's novel can now be read as an introduction to environmental issues of the twenty-first century."--John P. Loonam "Washington Independent Review of Books" "King uses modern sources and historical texts to take a fresh look at Melville's book--published in the same decade as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species--with the well-defined brief of assessing its natural history content. The result is a lighthearted and incredibly enjoyable read that manages somehow, at the right moments, to be both broad and narrow in scope. It should be required reading for anyone attempting Moby-Dick. . . . No captive of the library, King is an experienced seaman and an open-minded and intrepid guide. A visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, he is willing to pull on his old Sou'wester and sail into the watery part of the world. . . . King writes ably and in scholarly detail about albatrosses, ambergris, baleen, barnacles, seals, sharks, sperm whale behavior and language, swordfish, typhoons, and all sorts of marine and cetological marginalia. . . . [A] talented and clear-eyed . . . writer."--Christopher J. Kemp "Science" "I'm an easy mark for books like Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of 'Moby-Dick, ' which I've read a perhaps unhealthy number of times, in light of Annie Dillard's opinion that Melville's baggy masterpiece is the 'best book ever written about nature.' Focusing on nineteenth century oceanography, natural history, and, of course, the whalers' understanding of his prey's remarkable intelligence, King's book is a fascinating and rare thing: a vital addition to Melville studies."--Stephen Sparks "LitHub, 12 Books You Should Read This October" "A treasure trove. King situates Melville as a person of his time, writing amid a quickening pace of discoveries about the natural world but, pre-On the Origin of Species, inclined to couch them as further disclosures of God's design."--Stephen Phillips "Spectator" "A rather schematic structure--Ahab's Rolling Sea could be used as a reference book, a zoological concordance to Moby-Dick--is combined with a genuinely gripping retelling of the tale."--Brian Morton "Times Literary Supplement" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Ahab's Rolling Sea highlights our destructiveness as it teases fact from fiction in Moby-Dick, the obsessive hunt for a great white whale. . . . Rigorous. . . . Original."--Chris Simms "New Scientist" "This is a superb work of popular scholarship that rivals the best books of maritime nonfiction currently in print. For any teacher, reader, or aficionado of Melville's magnum opus the present work will be a joy to read; for anyone curious about the current state of the marine environment, this book will be eye-opening."--Dan Brayton, Middlebury College, author of "Shakespeare's Ocean: An Ecocritical Exploration" "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "This examination of Moby-Dick as nature writing could be a sneaky way to get the English majors on your shopping list to read about science."--John P. Loonam "American Scientist" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "King, a visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history (what a fascinating title this is!), runs after the Leviathan of literary semantics in the most imaginative way: testing what Melville and people of his era knew about their natural environment, maritime ecosystems, birds, cetaceans, and whales before he published Moby-Dick in 1851. . . . King does his best not to be another Ahab seeing his 'White Whale' escaping. And he actually makes it: from the detailed research of the marine fauna to the possible influences of Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Bowditch on Melville. This is the retelling of Moby-Dick from an imaginative point of view: from the Pequod towards the cosmos surrounding us in the era of new environmentalism."--Dimitris Doulgeridis "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "King reflects on what we have learned and lost from the oceans since Melville's time. He answers questions many readers surely ponder. . . . Naturally, the book is full of spoilers. Read Moby-Dick, read this, then read Moby-Dick again."--John P. Loonam "BBC Wildlife" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "King decisively settles any lingering questions about Moby-Dick, nineteenth-century whales and whaling, and all lore and literature of the sea. More than establishing a factual basis for Ishmael's fiction-making, King writes passionately on climate change, economic pressures on sea creatures, and the future Melville confronts in his marvelous encounter with the 'wonder-world' of whaling. King's deep knowledge grounds lively storytelling, keen observations drawn from years of sailing, and an eye for details that will make Melville's book come alive. But even if you haven't read Moby-Dick, you will revel in this storehouse of fascinating tales and arcana, from Ambergris to Zeuglodon. A treasure for library, classroom, or bedside table."--Wyn Kelley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Melville's City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York and Herman Melville: An Introduction "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "It took me decades to appreciate that Melville's messy, uncontainable, surging Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest book ever written about the sea, and about the human relationship with the living world, and perhaps the only book sufficiently un-jaded by mercantilism and modernity to be worthy of the actual ocean itself in all its raw, uncontrollable, surging majesty. But if you don't want to wait decades for Melville's magnificence to be revealed, you can cheat and read King's book. Ahab's Rolling Sea is a marvelous guide to the magic and mystery that was Melville's gift to us, for King reveals the deep, deep backstory of the making of Moby-Dick, the vast pots of experience and information that Melville simmered down, and even the missing ingredients of his age, that made Moby-Dick the richest bouillabaisse in all of literature. Oh, and about Melville's missing ingredients--they're here, in King's terrific book."--Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Herman Melville's sprawling masterpiece Moby-Dick is a fictional feat studded with empirical evidence, reveals maritime historian King in this invigorating study. King traces references to ethology, meteorology, marine microbiota and the oceans to Melville's sailing experience in the Pacific and wranglings with the works of scientists William Scoresby, Louis Agassiz and others. Moby-Dick, King boldly avers, is a 'proto-Darwinian fable'--and its beleaguered narrator, Ishmael, an early environmentalist."--John P. Loonam "Nature" "Anyone who loves Moby-Dick should read this book."--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award-winning In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Why Read 'Moby-Dick'? "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Ahab's Rolling Sea is a wide-ranging, highly personal, richly eclectic, and extremely well-researched book whose style and humor, combined with its rigor, suggest the potential for popularity even beyond the fascinations of this self-confessed whalehead. Who could not warm to a chapter titled 'Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses' or 'Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds, ' or be intrigued by 'Phosphorescence'? There's a Melvillean romance here, and it sits especially well with King's love and empathy for human as well as natural history. A contemporary, witty, almost postmodern field guide."--Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR, The Sea Inside, The Whale, and Leviathan "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Depending on who you are, reading Moby-Dick, first published in 1851, could be a sleep-inducing slog or a stellar sea yarn of man versus whale. But the book has (sea) legs, and since its release has proved to be one of the most enduring books of American fiction. Its literary merits have been discussed and debated, but King, a professor of maritime literature and history, examines the book as a work of nature writing . . . He does extensive reporting, delving into everything from the rigging of whaleships to the diet of sperm whales."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Hakai Magazine" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Are you? a Moby-Dickhead? If so, are you enough of a Moby-Dickhead to have visited the Phallological Museum in Iceland to inspect a sperm whale's penis? This is one of the many intrepid expeditions undertaken by King in the course of researching Ahab's Rolling Sea. His book, like Moby-Dick itself, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about whales but were too ashamed to ask. The fact that the sperm whale's penis, or 'grandissimus', is four and a half feet long is just one of its juicier details. . . . It turns out that, with due allowance for the state of knowledge in the 1850s, Melville got a surprising amount right about whales: their size, their bone structure, their mass, even their emotional lives. . . . Anyone who isn't completely turned off by sea creatures will enjoy surfing the waves of information that roll genially from this book. Ahab's Rolling Sea also has a big thesis. King argues that Moby-Dick offers a 'proto-Darwinian decentring of the human and the elevation of the whale.' . . . It would be hard to fault either the motives or the facts underlying King's ecological zeal."--JoAnne Fuerst "London Review of Books" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Simply breathtaking, in that it takes one's breath away and refills the lungs with a gust of salty sea breeze...Ahab's Rolling Sea collects accounts from literary criticism, theory, climate activism, and natural history for a deep dive into one of the most popular maritime novels around--Herman Melville's Moby-Dick...The relatability and readability of Ahab's Rolling Sea, at a time when the sea has much receded from daily life, is a testament to King's pedagogical, sailorly, and descriptive mastery. King invites us to stand aloft with him and Ishmael, and look out toward the wonderful, ever-rolling sea. Maybe, if we look close enough, we will even get to see a whale."--Alison Maas "H-Environment" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Book SynopsisShallow Seas are the most biologically rich and productive areas of the world ocean. This latest New Naturalist volume provides a natural history of this environment and its biological communities.Trade ReviewPraise for Peter Hayward’s previous volume on Seashore: ‘Scientifically accurate throughout, and there are plenty of interesting insights’ British Wildlife Praise for the New Naturalist series: ‘A glory of British publishing’ The Sunday Times ‘Taken either individually or as a whole, they are one of the proudest achievements of modern publishing’ The Sunday Times ‘The series is an amazing achievement’ The Times Literary Supplement ‘The books are glorious to own’ Independent

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisAdvances in Marine Biology. Volume 3 begins by focusing on some novel compounds having antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and other bioactive properties identified and isolated from marine sponges, which could serve as leads for drug discovery. The authors also discuss the factors that contribute to new discoveries and the challenges associated with translating marine sponge-derived compounds into clinical trials. The advances that may further expand the promise of drug discovery from marine sponges are also examined. Following this, the authors present current information about Hox-genes in polychaetes and make some cautious assumptions about the ancestral functions of the Hox-cluster. The basic plane and evolution of bilateral animals (Bilateria) are closely associated with Hox-genes. These genes usually exist in the genome in the form of the aforementioned clusters, gene complexes with a conservative position of individual genes inside them. Marine biotoxins are examined, specifically their correlation with of harmful algal blooms (HABs) which can accumulate in seafood products. This can have severe consequences on both the fishery industry and consumer health, as most marine biotoxins are not destroyed by food technologies like freezing or cooking, and their presence cannot be perceived because they give no specific taste, flavor or smell to food. The subsequent article contains a study on adaptation to environmental salinity alterations in the White Sea mussel Mytilus edulis, with its research having been conducted for several years and involving both long-term acclimation and exposure to stress salinity. A series of experiments were conducted in order to deduce the mussels capacity to adapt to environmental salinity changes, especially in terms of cell and molecular mechanisms of salinity adaptation. This compilation also presents a preliminary work within a large scale research program on H. diversicolor in different estuaries with the PNETOX Program National Program of Ecotoxicology. In the framework of the French National Program of Ecotoxicology, environmental quality was assessed in the multi-polluted Seine Estuary and the comparatively clean Authie Estuary, France (2002-2004), by determining contaminant levels in water, sediments and the infaunal worm H. diversicolor. The experiments were carried out concurrently in spring 2007 using a common protocol.

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