Coral Reef Identification Guides
See also Marine Life Books , Marine Life DVD
Get more out of your diving by recognising and learning about the fish and other marine creatures you encounter underwater. These illustrated marine life identification filed guides will help you to put names to those fish and teach you the secrets of the huge diversity of underwater life. As we're based in Thailand, our reviews emphasise field guides covering the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia, but most of these titles are part of a series covering other areas.
Indian Ocean Reef GuideThis is our very favourite marine life identification guidebook and is something of a bible amongst Thailand's diving professionals. Helmut Debelius made his first dives in the 1970's and since then has built up a massive archive of photographs and knowledge. He has produced a wide range of field guides and the Indian Ocean Reef Guide is one of the very best. If you need one book to cover the marine environment, this is it. The guide covers everything one can expect to encounter in the Indian Ocean: marine invertebrates, crustaceans, bony fish, cartilaginous fish, molluscs, corals, mammals and reptiles. While many reef guides either tend to be limited in their scope, or overly technical, Debelius' Reef Guides are a perfect compromise. All entries include both the common name and the scientific name to aid those wanting to do further research. With over 1000 photographs taken in the natural habitat of the subject, identification is a simple process. Where applicable, photographs of juveniles are also included. Any gaps in Debelius' own collection are more than adequately filled with the awesome photographs of Mark Strickland, Herwarth Voigtmann and others. This book is worth purchasing if only for the fantastic photography! Each subsection includes a brief description of the class, covering habitat, reproduction and feeding habits. There are also interesting articles covering specific creatures and topics such as the Coelacanths and expeditions in the Comoros to film them in their natural habitat. If you're heading out to the Seychelles, the Maldives, Thailand, Burma or elsewhere in the Indian Ocean to do some diving trip then this is the perfect accompaniment to your trip. Buy IKAN Indian Ocean Reef Guide by Helmut Debelius ( UK |
Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field GuideIf we had a pound for every minute we'd spent poring over the pages of this book following our dives, we'd be rich. Marine life experts and photographers Gerald Allen and Roger Steene have created a wonderful field guide containing 1800 colour photographs. The area covers the whole are from Hawaii to the Red Sea. Although a wide range of fish species are described, the book covers the whole spectrum of marine life including marine mammals and reptiles. We find it particularly useful in identifying coral and anemones not covered by other books. The greatest use for this book is in putting a name to the creatures you see underwater. If you want a little more in-depth information then the IKAN guides are better bet. Buy Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Filed Guide ( UK |
 Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-East AsiaAnother favourite from our collection. Rather than photographs, each species is beautifully illustrated with remarkable accuracy by Roger Swainston and Jill Ruse. Both divers and anglers will find this field guide useful. Australian terminology is often used, so for example filefish are termed "leatherjackets". We use this book as a supplement to the other titles on this page and on many occasions it has helped us to make a positive ID of more obscure fish species. Buy Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-East Asia ( UK |
Reef Fish Identification: Tropical PacificYet another excellent book from Gerald Allen and Roger Steene, this time in collaboration with renowned experts, Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. The authors have drawn on their amazing photography and unsurpassed knowledge of tropical marine life to produce the most comprehensive field guide to date covering the tropical Pacific area. More than 2500 colour photographs are included covering 2000 species from Thailand to Tahiti. Buy Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific ( UK |
 Sharks and Rays - Elasmobranch Guide of the WorldThis is another fine book from the excellent IKAN stable of marine life field guides. Photographer and elasmobranch expert Ralf Hennemann has teamed up with Helmut Debelius to produce an excellent 305-page publication featuring 250 species of sharks and rays, all illustrated with stunning photographs. This guidebook is in constant use on our Burma and Similan liveaboard diving trips. Until just a few decades ago, very little was known about the phylogenetical old, but very successful group of sharks, rays and chimaeras (ratfish). Since then, a lot of information has become available on the 1,000 or so living species of cartilaginous fishes. Naturally, the reef dwellers among them are better known than their deep-sea relatives. Hence the focus of species selected for this unique identification guide has been on those sharks and rays inhabiting shallow water. This makes it an indispensable guide (240 species on more than 600 color photos) for diver and visitor to public aquaria. In addition to including some little known and never published species as well as fossil forms, there is also a discussion of relevant topics such as the utilization of cartilaginous fishes by man, and their threatened extinction. Buy Sharks and Rays: Elasmobranch Guide of the World by Ralf Hennemann ( UK |
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