marine biology book

[laivindil]

I need to pick up a good marine biology book soon. There's just too much down there I don't know about. Can anyone recommend me a good one? I seem to remember a good one my dad's got for fishing that features full color pics of the fish in the front half of the book and descriptions of them in the back half. Anyone have any idea?

 

[gcbryan]

I need to pick up a good marine biology book soon. There's just too much down there I don't know about. Can anyone recommend me a good one? I seem to remember a good one my dad's got for fishing that features full color pics of the fish in the front half of the book and descriptions of them in the back half. Anyone have any idea?

That sounds like "Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest" by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell which is available in many local dives stores. Another very good and popular one is "Coastal Fish Identification California to Alaska" by Paul Humann. For invertebrates "Whelks to Whales" by Rich Harbo is very popular. It includes some fishes as well.

I have all 3 and from what I've seen those are the big 3 for around here.

 

[DoubleDip]

Welks to Whales is one of the best.

 

[diveborg]

Welks to Whales is one of the best.

I agree, it is an excellent, all around good book covering most of the stuff you are likely to see in the PNW.

Another very good and popular one is "Coastal Fish Identification California to Alaska" by Paul Humann.

Yes, an excellent fish only book.

For nudibranchs, I have the "Pacific Coast Nudibranchs" by David W. Behrens . It is excellent. I would also like to get his invertebrate book.

All three of these books go into much more detail than "Whelks to Whales", but they specific to their individual subjects. I thing "Whelks to Whales" would be the best choice for a first book, if you were looking to buy only one.