The World Beneath : The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs

Meet the world's most fascinating sea creatures in this spectacular enhanced edition, featuring more than 300 stunning color photographs and expert insights from a leading marine biologist and underwater photographer who is the international expert on seahorses.

In this richly informative volume, brimming with new discoveries and jaw-dropping images of fish and coral reefs, you'll swim through the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, be dazzled in the Coral Triangle, and amazed in Triton Bay. Up close you'll meet the Cenderawasih fairy wrasse with its fluorescent 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, while the author's beloved pygmy seahorse is almost too tiny to see unless photographed.

The wondrous creatures inside are charmers and tricksters who excel in the arts of seduction and deception, and you'll have the rare chance to see and delight in their antics. You'll 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.

This new and expanded edition includes updated text covering recent developments and discoveries affecting the rapidly changing landscape of the world's coral reefs, a wealth of new images from recent dives around the world, and a thorough index.