Marine life identification Web Site

[Peace314]

New to the board hope I'm posting this in the correct forum.... Getting my OW in May in Belize and would like to be able to identify the marine life I will come in contact with. I googled "marine life identification" but trying to wade through all the sites selling me a book or CD was getting old...If anyone knows of a web site that provides marine life identification information I would appreciate it....

Thanks
Jason

 

[itziar]

If anyone knows of a web site that provides marine life identification information I would appreciate it....

Thanks
Jason

Jason, welcome on board. Being new to fish ID myself, I will tell you which sites I am finding useful:

www.reef.org to start with fishes (they have photograph galleries and quizzes), they also sell books on fishes, invertebrates and corals (see shop).

www.fishbase.org/home.htm, a more comprehensive database

www.marinebio.org has been posted recently in the Marine Life forum, and I quite like it.

I hang out in the Marine Life and Underwater Photography subforums
of scubaboard, and I am learning from there too.

I hope you enjoy it!

-- Itziar

 

[Peace314]

Awesome sites thanks....

 

[Doc]

New to the board hope I'm posting this in the correct forum.... Getting my OW in May in Belize and would like to be able to identify the marine life I will come in contact with. I googled "marine life identification" but trying to wade through all the sites selling me a book or CD was getting old...If anyone knows of a web site that provides marine life identification information I would appreciate it....

Thanks
Jason

Sooner or later you're going to want and buythe books by Paul Humann, the three volume set. You could start with the Fish, then the Creature, but you'll eventualy want the Coral Book making the three volume set.

It comes on CD as well.

Then you're going to want the "Behavior" book.

It is, essentialy, the bible of Caribbean Critters- so far.

Websites? Never been able to pull one up at any decent dive resort. THAT's when I want to know what the heck that thing was.

The fun is when you find stuff that just isn't in the book.