The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs
Meet the world's most fascinating sea creatures--see the lives and curiosities of colorful fish and coral reefs--this spectacular volume has more than 300 color photos and extraordinary text from a leading marine biologist and underwater photographer, and the international expert on seahorses.
In this richly informative volume, brimming with new discoveries and more than three hundred colorful images of jaw-dropping fish and coral reefs, you'll swim in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans; you'll be dazzled in the Coral Triangle and amazed in Triton Bay. Up close you'll meet the Cenderawasih fairy wrasse, with its florescent yellow streak; the polka-dot longnose filefish; and the multicolored seadragon. There are scarlet-colored corals, baby-blue sponges, daffodil crinoids, and all sorts of mystifying creatures that change color at the drop of a hat. The whale shark is almost larger than life and the author's beloved pygmy seahorse, unless photographed, is almost too tiny to see.
The wondrous creatures inside are charmers and tricksters and excel in the arts of seduction and deception, and you'll have the rare chance to see and delight in their antics. You'll also learn what they eat, how they play, and how they care for one another, live on one another, and mimic others when they're afraid. There is also compelling insight into the naming process, which sea creatures are facing extinction, and how we can help them before it's too late.
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"Packed with vibrant images of sea life large and small, scientist and photographer Smith's volume is a splendid and thorough look beneath the surface of the ocean."
--Publishers Weekly
"Smith vividly documents the amazing diversity of marine life associated with coral reefs and eloquently argues for their protection."
--Library Journal
"This book by Dr. Richard Smith is a surprise-filled delight from start to finish."
--DIVER magazine
"I was completely on board with Dr. Richard Smith's gorgeous new book and his aim to engage and educate the reader . . . and Dr. Smith does not disappoint. . . . I would recommend it without hesitation."
--The Linnean
"A dazzling display of the deep's endangered denizens, from color-changing crustaceans to secretive sea dragons, and whale sharks to seahorses so small they are almost invisible."
--The Lady, Books of the Year, 2020
"Richard Smith [reveals] secrets of coral reefs and some of their smaller, less well-known inhabitants in this fascinating and accessible book."
--X-Ray International Dive Magazine
"I guarantee that once you have read this remarkable book, you will never again look at the reef in the same way again; your understanding of the workings of the reef, the total dependence of everything that exists upon everything else, will all suddenly fall into place."
--British Society of Underwater Photographers
