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CORALS
- INDO-PACIFIC FIELD GUIDE
Harry
Erhardt ? Daniel Knop.
At
last - a first class reference on hard and soft corals, gorgonians and
sea anemones that is both authorative and interesting. Like all IKAN series
publication, it has the standard hardcover format, 304 pages, gloss art
paer, and over a thousand full colour photographs. Divided into the accepted
categories of genus within family within order, this is an excellent identification
guide with generally three colour images per page, and commences with a
general introduction to corals and coral reefs. Like all IKAN books it
contains picture stories, eleven in this case, including essays on man's
influence on coral colonies, the commercialism of red coral, coral farming,
propagation of soft corals, corals unde the microscope, coral bleaching,
coral spawning, and the obiquitous Crown-of-Thorns starfish. Covers the
huge region from the Red Sea through to the west coast of the Americas. |
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CORALS
OF AUSTRALIA AND THE INDO-PACIFIC
J.E.N.Veron.
If you require a book to
identify corals, if you need to understand the physiology of coral colonies
and habitats - if you just want a magnificent book on the foundations of
the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs and atolls, then this is it. It
is a massive work, extremely comprehensive as would be expected of a Principal
Research Scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Commencing
with a treatise on the formation of coral reefs, coral communities and
coral biology, the book extends into more than 500 pages of species identification
by Family, with map showing distribution. A thorough index assists
the reader/researcher. Hardcover, dustwrapper, large A4 format, 645, p,
full colour throughout. |
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A
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CORAL REEF
Charles
Sheppard.
Superb
text based on Great Barrier Reef - building of a coral reef, ecosystem,
marine animals. This is the book that gives you the real meaning behind
the foundation of a coral reef, and how it evolves.
Hardcover,
151 pages, colour. |
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AN
ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CORAL REEF FISHES AND INVERTEBRATES
Michael Aw with Sara Baggott.
An Indepth Awareness &
Identification Guide with Photographic Tips.
Ocean Geographic Society,
Australia. Published 2011.
Softcover, 226 pages, full
colour throughout, separate index for Fishes and Invertebrates.
Michael Aw is an exceptional
underwater photography with, I am told, a pretty good knowledge of marine
life. (Michael gets a snapshot and biog in the back of the book - Sara
misses out. He is not a marine biologist - perhaps co-author Sara Baggott
has such qualifications - but no matter, this is an excellent indetification
guide just enough text to give a deeper understanding of exotic - as they
are - marine life in tropical waters. And as expected, the photographs
and crisp and relevant. All of Michael's publications lean toward a sincere
trend toward conservation of marine life, which he expresses through education.
As an identification guide, it excells with some eight images per page
- there are over 850 photographs. Content is divided into Fishes and Invertibrates,
(90 and 108 pages respectively); add chapters (s0me short admitedly) include
Type of Reefs, How to ID Fisahes, How to Make Better Pictures Underwater. |
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AQUARIUM
CORALS. Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History
Eric H. Borneman.
Although the book is written
for those wishing to keep corals in an aquarium, this is one of the best
book I have seen on the natural history of corals. And understandably so,
for if you wish to keep corals in an habitat, you need to understand their
natural life in some detail. It is also an excellent book as a means of
identification, the greater part of the book being devoted to this. Other
chapters cover the symbiotic relationship with algae, competition and reproduction,
feeding, anatomy, taxonomy, and conservation. An excellent authorative
book even if you have no intention to keep an aquarium.
Hardcover, medium format
22- x 240 mm, 464 pages, full colour throughoput, index, extensive bibliography,
glossary. |
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CORAL
KINGDOMS
Carl Roessler.
Nice work from this nomadic
travel agent who covers the Caribbean, Red Sea, Micronesia, PNG, Fiji,
and a few other 'Islands of Spellbinding Beauty'. An upmarket divers guide
to the world's top dive sites with examples of Roessler's excellent underwater
photography.
Hardcover, 216p, full colour,
large format 240x300mm. |
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CORALS
OF THE WORLD - Three Volumes.
J.E.N.
Veron (author) and Mary Stafford-Smith (Scientific Editor and Producer).
Over
3,000 photographs are included in this definitve work on the worldd's corals.
Covering three hardcover volumes in a slipcase, the 1350 pages of full
colour is one of the the most comprehensive, authoritative and spectacular
producctions ever given to a group of marine organisms. It now superseeds
Veron's brilliant Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific first published
in 1986. Apart from being an identification guide, chapters include ‘what
are species?', evolution, biogeogrpahy, the fossil record, coral reefs,
the structure of corals, reproduction and the history of coral studies.
A glossary explains all terminology. Non technical summaries distinquish
the features of the species, genera and families. This really is a magnificent
work in every respect. |
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CORAL
REEF ANIMALS OF THE INDO-PACIFIC
'Animal
life from Africa to Hawaii exclusive of vertebrates'.
Terrance
M.Gosliner, David W. Behrens, Gary C. Williams.
This
is a superb full colour quarto size, 320 page softcover book containing
over 1100 photographs by 52 photographers, printed on quality art paper.
It covers all the invertebrate animals from Anemones to Starfish, with
four species per page, each with a colour photo, and includes many temperate
water species. This scientific field guide is ideal for general identification
and knowledge and aimed at the sport diver as well as the more scientifically
educated reader. The introduction is particularly superb giving an excellent
text on evolution, animal phylogeny, and the formation of coral reefs. |
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CORAL
REEFS - CITIES UNDER SEA. Richard C. Murphy.
This
is a book that inspires and educates. The original and imaginative theme
is based on a metaphor of our own city living, describing how the life
in the sea requires organisation, discipline, rules and regulations just
as our society and cities demand. Each chapter depicts the community of
a working life under the waves, juxtaposed with our own urban existence.
Here we have, as we do, Power Plants and Farms, Waste Management and Recycling,
Construction and Public Housing, Public Health, Conflict and Cooperation,
Advertising, Personal Lives, and Social Security. Murphy's succinct text
is illustrated by excellent, relevant, photographs, yet this is not a ‘book
of underwater photographs'. Although of medium format (26 x 26 cm), it
defies the definition of a ‘coffee table book', devoid of images for the
sake of art, and encourages reading from cover to cover. Whereas the fine
photographs are technically clean and straightforward, the inspiration
comes from a realisation that there is a wondrous community beneath the
sea with similar problems to that which we humans experience. A superb,
unique book. Hardcover, dust jacket, 178 pages, full colour throughout. |
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CORAL
REEFS. NATURE'S WONDERS
Walter and Jean Deas.
This is an excellent book
for the identification of the main species of hard and soft corals, together
with a background on coral reefs, their formation and the animals that
create them. There is sufficient natural science text to be educational
without being overwhelming, and is written in an easy to read style very
much in the character of the authors who are well known, especially to
the older breed of Australian diver, like myself. (Walt and Jean are film
makers, and for many years were the dive guides at Heron Island). The sections
on species identification includes up to half-page size colour images with
a brief text on habitat and characteristics. Concludes with an essay on
the future of the coral reefs. A very useful book.
Softcover, 289 pages, full
colour throughout, index, bibliography, glossary. |
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CORAL
SEA REEF GUIDE.
Bob
Halstead.
An
IKAN series book.
This
full color reef creature identification guide contains exquisite underwater
photos of over 1000 marine species, from the Great Barrier Reef, Papua
New Guinea, Solomon's, Vanuatu to New Caledonia. Along with the descriptive
information to identify each species, the book includes interesting behavioral
and habitat information. The author, Bob Halstead, a degreed educator and
scientist, is a household word in the Indo-Pacific diving industry and
has made more than 7000 in the Coral Sea to amass this collection of photos.
Bob, winner of multiple photographic awards, has authored several books,
and published dozens of magazine articles.
Another
superb book in the IKAN series, produced by Helmut Debelius, published
by Sea Challeengers.
Hardcover.
Approx 320 pages.
Review:
CORAL SEA REEF GUIDE by Bob Halstead. Publisher:
Dugong
Dudley is just one of the many marine creatures listed in this magnificent
reef guide; he gets a special mention as one of the interesting ‘picture
stories' scattered throughout the book. Exceptionally well laid out, the
Coral Sea Reef Guide is one of the superb IKAN series of books produced
by photographer/writer/publisher Helmut Debelius. The full colour identification
guide contains exquisite underwater photos of over 1000 marine species,
from Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, New Caledonia - those nations that border the Coral Sea. And who
better to write and photograph such an ambitious project than Bob Halstead,
well known for his dive expeditions around PNG, and his many books and
articles. Coral Sea Reef Guide covers the fishes, corals, crustacea, snails,
mollusca, gorgonia, soft corals (not the hard corals), and anemones, cephalopods,
plants and sponges, reptiles and mammals - its all here in one hardcover
volume, the definitive guide to the marine life at the most popular dive
destinations visited by Australian divers. The book is divided into phylum
down through class and family to the individual species. The descriptive
text is concise; the colour photographs are excellent, clear and
relevant, with generally three to a page and some full page plates. Photo
locations are indicated, and the distribution of all animals. Along with
the descriptive information to identify each species, the book includes
interesting behavioural and habitat information, and twenty-four excellent
‘picture stories' such as ‘coral spawning', ‘crocodile with gills', ‘how
to catch a sea urchin', and the whimsical ‘what really happened to the
dinosaurs'.
Review
by Peter Stone. Scuba Diver magazine. |
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DIVING
THE RAINBOW REEFS
Adventures
of an Underwater Photographer.
Paul
S. Auerbach, MD.
The
author is better known in the USA for his excellent photography and other
publications.
This
is both an inspirational small coffee table book covering several mjor
dive region in the world, the marine animals and terrain, expressed with
fine photography and text. Eight chapters cover: Apo Reef (Pgilippines),
Truk and Pohnpei, The Caribban, the Red Sea, Galapagos Islands, Fiji Islands,
Palau, and our own Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. The marine life is
covered well in each area, woth single page photo-text essays. Certainly
the region covered have some of the finest diving in the world. This would
make an excellent gift, a guide to future diving dreams, or a souvenir
of places visited.
Hardcover,
dustjacket, 236 pages, full colour on gloss art paper. |
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DIVING
THE WORLD'S CORAL REEFS.
Editor Jack Jackson.
What a superb book. The
photography is excellent, and the text lucid and informative. So where
are thse top coral reefs. Sections include The Caribbean, Indian Ocan,
Red Sea, eastern and western Pacific, the Great barrier Reef of course,
Melanesia, Hawaii. Authors include Michael Aw, Bob Halstead, Angie Belcher,
Ann Storrie, all of whom are familiar to Australian divers. This is a large
format book, 176 pages, full brilliant colour throughout. Apart from being
an exception book to own, for inspiration and memories, it would also make
a wonderful gift for any diver, irrespective of experience. |
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INDO-PACIFIC
CORAL REEF GUIDE.
Dr
Gerald Allen ? Roger Steene.
A
concise yet extremely valuable companion for anyone wishing to identify
and understand tropical marine life. Perhaps one of the best marine books
produced in Australia, it relates not only to Australian waters, but "from
the shores of Hawaii to the Red Sea". All phylum are represented, extending
from tiny marine worms and corals to seabirds and mammals. If ever a book
should be lauded as "the best in its field" this is it. Softcover, 378,
with over 1800 full colour photographs. |
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LIVING
CORALS
B.Robin, C.Petron,C.Rives.
This is a handy inexpensive
identification guide, in full colour, 144 pages, within stiff board covers
and a protective thick plastic sleeve. The formation of coral reefs and
coral colonies is covered briefly, as is the nutritional cycle of the coral
polyp. But what makes it such a handy book is its layout, showing the principle
types of corals - hexacorallia, pctocorallia and hydrozoa, and an identification
guide to the various ‘types' of coral such as the staghorn and brain corals
just to name two of the fifteen ‘varieties'. |
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LIVING
REEFS OF THE INDO PACIFIC -
A
Photographic Guide.
Rob
van der Loos. .
Another
excellent publication put out by New Holland. It covers the tropical area
from the Seyshelles to Samoa, from southern Japan to northern Australia
with chapyers on Living Habitats and the marine life that inhabit them.
A valuable identification guide to the major invertebrate species, with
an excellent chapter on scorpion fish. A dfourteen page chapter on photographing
the animals is useful.
Softcover,
176 pages, about 600 full colour photographs, each with a brief description
of the animal, its depth, distribution, and lens used. |
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PERSPECTIVES
ON CORAL REEF
Edited by D.J.Barnes
Published for The Institute
of Marine Science by Brian Clouston, Publisher. 1983.
Hardcover, dust jacket,
277 pages.Many charts and drawings; index. Lierature cited is included
at the end of each paper.
This is a thorough academic
work and as I am not a marine biologist I can only go by what I am told
by way of the contents and fly blurb. It is, apparnetly, a book 'o value
to research scientists wityh interests in coral reefs. It will be a seminal
source for people initiating new research and will play a valuable role
in melding the often apparently disparate approaches of biologists and
geologists to the reef environment.' So thgere you are. We have here some
nineteen scientific papers from the same number of authorsm, with suvch
titles as Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Probes of Reef Environmental Histories;,
Calcium Carbonate Depositions by Reef Algae; Calcification of Corals and
Other Animals on the Reef' Sea-Level Changes and Coral Reef Growth; Dissolved
Nutient in Coral Reef Waters etc etc. Cyptofaunal Communities and
Morphological Shelf Reefs don't excite me, but I've probably seen a few
of these in my time. It is only my ignorance that puts this tome above
me, but I can see that it is a valuable books for the marine biology student
and researcher. |
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SOFT
CORALS AND SEA FANS.
A Comprehensive Guide to
the Tropical shallow-water genera of the Central-West Pacific, the Indian
Ocean and the Red Sea.
Katharina Fabricius and
Philip Alderslade.
Covers some 90 genera of
Alcyonacea belonging to 23 families , with identification assisted with
excellent photographs, over 700 in colour, and drawings. The text
covers the animals in their natural habitat, biology and world distribution.
Of value to the professional marine naturalist and serious amateur diver.
A definitive work. Softcover, 264 pages. |
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STAGHORN
CORALS - ACROPORA.
Dr
Carden Wallac and Michel Aw.
Covers
some one hundred species of Acropora, the most common hard coral within
th tropical reef system
This
excellent full colour book is ideal as an on-site field guide and home
reference, economically priced, and yet with excellent colour photographs,
one to five per page, and detailed text, surely the best value of the marine
identification books. Coverage is predominntly the Indo-Pacific,
South-East Asia, west Pacific and northern Australia regions.
Size
125 X 170 cm, full colour throughout, 158 pages. |
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STAGHORN
CORALS OF THE WORLD
Carden
Wallace.
Published
by the CSIRO, this superb book covers the coral genus Acropora, and is
a fully sscientific tretise based on the skeltal morphology and field characteristics
determijed by a number of marine scientists. It is the most definitive
book on the identification and study of these ‘popular' corals. Text includes
distribution (with map), material examined, skeletal characteristics, field
characteristics (habitat), and general information including further scientific
and general reading.A must for anyone serious about their coral knowledge.
Hardcover
(laminated boards), 422 pages, A4 size, numerous mono photographs for identification,
and twelve colour plates containing some fifty photographs, glossary, bibliography,
further reading. |
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THE
GREAT BARRIER REEF. A World Heritage National Park
Photos by Gary Bell. Text
by Tony Ayling.
"Be enchanted by the miraculous
living wonder of the Great Barrir Reef. Colour stream from every page as
art and science unite to compel raders to share in the discovery and conservation
of the Earth's most beautiful habitat. Informative text, penned by esteemed
marine biologist Dr Tony Ayling, coupled with award-winning photogarpher
Gary Bell's vibrant underwater photography, charts the evolution, composition
and day-to-day workings of the exquisite, enigmatic ecosystem". Thats from
the fly of the book. To me, its a nice book of delightful photrographs
that capture the essence of the Great Barrier Reef in straighforward, functional,
descriptive images. With Ayling's professional yet easy to read text, the
book extends beyond the traditional coffee-table picture book, into a valuable
document on this marvellous of all reef systems. And it's photographed
and written by Aussies, and published by an Aussie (but printed in China
- you can't win ‘em all!). Hardcover, dustjacket, large landscape format,
full colour throughout, 224 pages, index. Would make a great gift, not
just for divers. |
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TROPICAL
REEF LIFE.
Michael
Aw
Covers
the tropical invertebrates (no fishes) - sponges, sea snails, octopii,
feather stars, hard and soft corals, bryozoan tunicates, etc etc.
Full
colour , an ideal on-site field guide and home reference, economically
priced, and yet with excellent colour photographs, one to five per page,
and detailed text, surely the best value of the marine identification books.
Coverage is predonimantly They all cover the Indo-Pacific, South-East Asia
, west Pacific and northern Australia regions.
Size
is 125 X 170 cm, full colour throughout, 158 pages. |
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TROPICAL
PACIFIC INVERTEBRATES -
A
Field Guide to the Marine Invertebrates Occurring on Tropical Pacific Coral
Reefs, Seagrass Beds and Mangroves.
Partick
L. Colin and Charles Arneson.
There
seems to be a plethora of marine invertebrate books coming on to the market
recently, and just as well as the dearth of such titles since George ?
George's Marine Life in the 1980s has been noticed. Like the brilliant
Australian book Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Guide by Allen ? Steene, and the
equally superb Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific by Gosliner and others,
Tropical Reef Invertebrates is superbly produced, with clear colour photographss
of most species - over 2,000 photographs I would estimate. Subject chapters
include sponges, cnidarian, ctenophores, worms, molluscs, crustaceans,
lophophorates, echinoderms and ascidians.
Softcover,
295 pages. medium format, full colour. |
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WHAT
IS NATURAL? - CORAL REEF CRISIS
Jan Sapp.
Oxford University Press.
NewYork, Oxford. 1999.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 275
pahes, index, notes. eight mono plates.
From the fly blurb: Since
the 1960s, massive herds of poisonous crown-of-thorns starfish have infested
many coral reefs around the world, leaving in their wake devastation comparable
to a burnt-out rainforest. In What is Natural?, Jan Sapp examines this
ecological catastrophe and captures the intense debates about the cause
of the crisis, and how it should be handled. Are the outbreaks natural
or are they human-induced? What should or could be done about them? Discussions
of the cause and effects of the starfish plagues have involved virtually
every environmental issue of our time: over-fishing, pesticide use, atomic
testing, rain forest depletion, global warming and overpopulation. While
many marine scientists and environmentalists have long demanded that action
be taken to stop the plagues, others have maintained that the outbreaks
are natural features of coral-reef life and therefore should not be tampered
with. The crown-of-thorns story takes readers on tropical expeditions around
the world, and into marine laboratories and government committees, where
scientists rigorously search for answers to the many profound questions
surrounding the global deterioration of coral reefs. [pjs] |
