Describes the formation of a coral reef and the many plants and animals that live in and around these underwater communities.

Caribbean Reef Life covers the full range of a coral reef's biodiversity. This expanded third edition is more than just an ID book; it aims to give divers a deeper understanding of these dynamic ecosystems and how different species, including our own, contribute to the reef as a whole.

A brief introduction to coral reefs, including where they are found, how they grow, what lives in them, their importance, and efforts being made to protect and restore them.

Just one hundred and ten miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border, beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, lie two coral reefs, together called the Flower Garden Banks. This coral community, the northernmost reef system in the United States and a national marine sanctuary, is home to hundreds of kinds of fish and other tropical sea life. Manta rays and turtles visit regularly, as do whale sharks and schools of hammerhead sharks. Other wonders include the annual mass coral spawns and a briny depression called Gollum Lake. Nearby are two other reefs. Stetson Bank, its top spotted with hard corals, mollusks, and sponges, is known for its diversity—from black sea hares to golden smooth trunkfish. At Geyer Bank, thousands of butterfly fish dominate a huge population of tropical fish whose density rivals that of the coral reefs in the South Pacific. Protruding from the flat, muddy continental shelf, these and thirty other natural reefs support an exceptional amount and variety of sea life in Texas waters. They sit amid hundreds of oil and gas platforms, which create their own special reef ecosystems. These reefs, equal in their profusion of life and color to the storied reefs of Florida and Hawaii, have not been widely known to Texans outside of a small group of scientists and divers. With extraordinary photographs and a knowledgeable first-person narrative, author Jesse Cancelmo instills an appreciation for the beauty and fragility of one of the state’s least-known natural environments. Texas Coral Reefs will inspire adventurers—both the underwater and armchair varieties—to enjoy these spectacular but little-known sites that lie so close to home.

The definitive guide to the underwater life of the Red Sea region, home to the richest and most varied dive sites in the world. Visited by over a quarter of a million divers a year the Red Sea is home to many of the world's most popular dive sites. Covering jellyfish, corals, nudibranchs, starfish, sea urchins, fishes and turtles, Coral Reef Guide Red Sea covers all common species of underwater life of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, you are likely to see while diving or snorkelling. Each species is illustrated with a full-colour photograph and the text gives details of range and characteristic behaviour. Different species groups are represented by icons for easy reference and an illustration of the juvenile may also be included. A map of good dive sites appears on the inside front cover, while the inside back cover features illustrations of a number of common species for quick and easy identification.