Provides photographs and descriptions of various types of marine life found around the world, including fish, crabs, corals, dolphins, sharks, and others.

This stunning encyclopedia is a fascinating guide to more than 400 fish and sea creatures from aroundthe world and from every marine habitat.Representation is broad, featuring members of some of the most exciting and successful animal groups in the marine world, including sponges, corals, jelly animals, worms, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, fish, reptiles and sea mammals. Read about the plate-like body armor of creatures that endure the crash of the incoming tide; the reefs that teem with colorful life; the communities that exist at the edge of the contents; and the formidable creatures that hunt in remote waters. Each profile is illustrated with a beautiful watercolor artwork plus a panel which contains a map to pinpoint distribution, and concise information on habitat type, size, breeding and feeding behavior.

A box set of two hardback encyclopedias of 1250 freshwater and marine creatures, with 1700 images.

Few creatures have captured the imaginations of so many for so long as have monsters of the deep. Their history has been surprisingly consistent, the author notes. Most began as myths and then acquired a sense of reality when the existence of creatures resembling those chronicled in legend was documented. Ellis (Men and Whales) gives a superb account of marine monsters and their attendant myths, sightings, scientific discovery and biology. He describes only the best known and the best documented. He traces the mermaid to the manatee and dugong, Leviathan to the sperm whale, kraken to the giant squid and polyp to the octopus (sharks, however, remain sharks). He examines these monsters in art, literature and film, taking Jules Verne and Victor Hugo to task for their ignorance of biology, hysterical fantasy and unmitigated malice. Herman Melville, Arthur C. Clarke and Peter Benchley get better ratings. Of all the sighted monsters, only the giant squid (Architeuthis) retains its mythological and cryptozoological status, for its very existence is shrouded in mystery. Sharks have had a bad reputation throughout history, but until Jaws (1974) they did not figure prominently in literature. At the end of this engaging book, Ellis confesses to skepticism: "monsters, if they exist, have more to fear from us than we do from them.

Frequently reprinted with differing titles and copyright dates.

No environment on Earth imposes greater physical and biological constraints on life than the deep oceanic midwaters. Near-freezing temperatures, the absence of sunlight, enormous pressure, and a low food supply make habitation by any living thing almost inconceivable. Yet 160 species of anglerfishes are found there in surprising profusion. Monstrous in appearance, anglerfishes possess a host of unique and spectacular morphological, behavioral, and physiological innovations. In this fully illustrated book, the first to focus on these intriguing fish, Theodore W. Pietsch delivers a comprehensive summary of all that is known about anglerfishes—morphology, diversity, evolution, geographic distribution, bioluminescence, and reproduction.