Marine flatworms are some of the ocean's most beautiful of those creatures that can be encountered by divers, snorkelers or simply lovers of marine life under water or in the intertidal zone. They are relatively simple animals with soft flat bodies. In this book we will focus on the free-living highly diverse marine flatworms of the order Polycladida. Often confused with nudibranchs, they are falling under the completely different phylum platyhelminthes (Platyhelminthes, Greek "platy": flat; "helminth": worm.) The book covers the region from the Red Sea, East and South Africa to Hawaii, Marshall Islands and Guam. Inside the book: •Over 1300 full color photographs of 580+ species; • Particular attention was paid to color variations; • Live photo of hundreds of species have never before appeared in field guides or popular books; • Convenient pictorial guide at the beginning and index at the end of the book. • The book contains photographs of most of the recently described Indo-Pacific flatworms, some of them are represented by holotypes.
Nudibranchs of the Coral Triangle became the only guide to nudibranchs on the market with an up-to-date 2022 taxonomy after its major update (November 2022) This book is a field guide, an assistant for the identification of nudibranchs species in the region. It is designed for divers, underwater photographers. The book presents 1060+ species nudibranchs that can be found and photographed in depths and regions accessible to recreational diving. Photographs, showing color variations and age differences are included. A lot of species covered by this guide have never before appeared in field guides or popular books. Compact text blocks provide information about Common name, Latin name, family, geographic distribution, size, and the most distinctive features. An extensive photo index at the beginning of the book helps you to find the right group of nudibranchs, especially for readers who have not yet mastered their names. Nudibranchs or sea slugs occur throughout the world’s oceans and are present in many marine habitats. The greatest diversity of species is found in the Indo-Pacific tropics with a concentration of species within the Coral Triangle (CT), encompassing the waters of six Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Malaysia, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands. This global epicenter of marine biodiversity covers only 1.6 percent of the planet’s oceanic area, but attracts an increasing number of divers and underwater photographers, including nudibranch lovers.
This book is full of creatures that are weird and wonderful - marine worms! Some of them look like nightmares or aliens from outer space, others look like beautiful flowers. You have never seen most of them. Many are not yet known to science. The author and his friends - underwater photographers and marine biologists were lucky to find many fantastic beasts - a variety of marine worms. This required thousands of dives, especially night dives, and dozens of expeditions. The uniqueness of the book is also in the widest geographical range that it covers - from the Red Sea to Hawaii, including the world-famous centers of biological diversity, the Coral Triangle, the Great Barrier Reef, etc. Marine worms are recognized world champions in biodiversity. This book is the first photo guide to these secretive and often strange animals. The book is based on photographs taken by the author, as well as his friends - citizen scientists and professional marine biologists. It is designed for the general public, marine life lovers. The book is also of interest to scuba divers and underwater photographers interested in identifying their underwater finds. This photo guide should also assist marine biologists and students in the initial identification of collected marine worms. Many years ago, scientists included in "vermis" all animals that are longer than wide, without backbones. Many distinct groups of worms were described and recognized later. This book illustrates the most common groups of marine worms. It is they who are most likely to be met under water by marine life lovers, scuba divers, snorkelers. Segmented worms make up the Phylum Annelida. It is the most diverse group of marine worms. Therefore, it is not surprising that photos of annelids occupy a large part of this book. Within the annelids, the largest number of species are polychaetes. Polychaetes (meaning "many bristles") have many bristles on the body. In addition to polychaetes, segmented worms also include Peanut worms (Sipuncula) and Leeches (Clitellata) also featured in this book. Diversity of marine worms is not limited to annelids. The Ribbon worms (Phylum Nemertea) and Arrow worms (Phylum Chaetognatha) are also featured in this book. Together with Acoel worms and Acorn worms. These groups have significantly fewer species, but they are very important for our understanding of the evolution of marine life. Flatworms (order Polycladida) are featured in a separate book "Marine Flatworms of the Tropical Indo-Pacific." The book covers the region from the Red Sea, East and South Africa to Hawaii, Marshall Islands and Guam. Inside the book: • Over 820 full color photographs of 440+ species; • Particular attention was paid to color variations, for some species up to 10 photos were added; • Live photographs of most of the species have never before appeared in field guides or popular books; • Convenient pictorial guide at the beginning and genera index at the end of the book
This book documents and examines the state of health of coral reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific region. It touches on the occurrence of coral reefs in the waters of surrounding countries, and it explores their biogeography, biodiversity and condition relative to the El Niño southern oscillation and human impacts. Additionally contained within is a field that presents information on many of the species presented in the preceding chapters.
Life began in the sea, and even today most of the deep diversity of the planet is marine. This is often forgotten, especially in tropical countries like Costa Rica, renowned for their rain forests and the multitude of life forms found therein. Thus this book focusing on marine diversity of Costa Rica is particularly welcome. How many marine species are there in Costa Rica? The authors report a total of 6,777 species, or 3. 5% of the world’s total. Yet the vast majority of marine species have yet to be formally described. Recent estimates of the numbers of species on coral reefs range from 1–9 million, so that the true number of marine species in Costa Rica is certainly far higher. In some groups the numbers are likely to be vastly higher because to date they have been so little studied. Only one species of nematode is reported, despite the fact that it has been said that nematodes are the most diverse of all marine groups. In better studied groups such as mollusks and crustaceans, reported numbers are in the thousands, but even in these groups many species remain to be described. Indeed the task of describing marine species is daunting – if there really are about 9 million marine species and Costa Rica has 3. 5% of them, then the total number would be over 300,000. Clearly, so much remains to be done that new approaches are needed. Genetic methods have en- mous promise in this regard.
You have never seen such a Red Sea! The pages are full of previously unknown species of fish, nudibranchs, and crustaceans. Many of them were discovered by the author and his colleagues. But even previously well-known species are photographed with unprecedented quality! This author's photo guides on fish, nudibranchs, crustaceans, sea shells, echinoderms and flatworms have been highly acclaimed by divers and scientists, but he has always dreamed of writing a comprehensive book on the fauna of coral reefs in the Red Sea. And Red Sea Marine Life is a truly comprehensive: 2900 full colour photographs of 2100+ species, including 810+ fish species, 250 cnidarians (corals and relatives) and near 350 species of nudibranchs and sea slugs. Live photo of hundreds of species have never before appeared in field guides or popular books. The most experienced Red Sea dive guides open their eyes wide when they see photos of rare and beautiful fish or nudibranchs species in this book. A lot has changed in marine biology in the two decades since the previous Red Sea guides were published. And this book is based on the latest research. Red Sea Marine Life will make you take a fresh look at the seemingly well-known Red Sea, the house reef of Europe.
The first and only photo guide solely dedicated to marine animals of Philippines you are likely to see while diving or snorkeling.Covers 1600 species, including Philippines endemics, new to science and undescribed species. Fishes, turtles, shrimps, crabs, nudibranchs, corals, all are beautifully illustrated in natural surroundings. Inside Coral Reefs Philippines: The most comprehensive photo guide to Philippine marine life, covering fishes, turtles, invertebrates and marine plants Designed for divers, snorkelers and marine life lovers Features near 1600 species, among them new species and new records of fishes and invertebrates for the Philippines All photographs taken in natural environment, no anaesthetic or sedatives substances were used on animals Small and compact enough to be taken for your next dive trip
This book introduces readers to the giant clam's biology, taxonomy and systematics, ecological and cultural significance, threats and challenges, and conservation solutions. The highlight of this book is the species identification guide containing descriptions of 12 known giant clam species accompanied by accurate hand-drawn shell illustrations and live photographs of specimens for comparison. Detailed information is summarised in a visual key on the distinctive features of the individual species, with notes on their ecology, geographic distribution, taxonomy and morphology. This book also includes other useful natural history information to spur the reader's interest in these magnificent animals.With the most comprehensive information presented concisely, this book allows readers to identify a particular giant clam readily and confidently, as well as the other species that it may easily be confused with, confirm that the species occurs in a specific area, and access general information on the biology and ecology of the species. It is a valuable resource for researchers, students, the SCUBA diving community, managers of marine resources, and the public.
This new edition of Ocean has been updated with fresh graphics, images, and type styling throughout, and includes new coverage of major events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Japan tsunami. DK's Ocean is a highly illustrated encyclopedia of the marine environment. It not only covers marine life and physical oceanography, from the geology of the seafloor to the chemistry of seawater, but also includes an atlas of the world's oceans and seas compiled using satellite data. Visual catalogs throughout the book contain profiles of living organisms and key locations. With comprehensively updated text, artwork, and images, the second edition of DK's exhaustive guide to the underwater world is the most definitive visual guide to the world's oceans on the market.
