An authoritative visual guide to saltwater life around the world, featuring hundreds of fish, shells, crabs, corals, echinoderms, seals, jellyfish, dolphins, sharks, rays, whales, reptiles, and mammals. Features a stunning worldwide directory detailing more than 600 individual species, with full information on identification and superb color artworks. Read about the astonishing tactics that creatures, have developed to survive in their habitats: the ambush techniques of carpet sharks; the 'fishing lure' used by angler fish; the sponges that supply shelter for shallow-water crabs, or the light organs evolved by creatures of the deep. Quick-reference maps help the reader to pinpoint the distribution of all profiled creatures, and there are concise summaries of habitat type, size, breeding and feeding. A stunning pictorial introduction covers the major marine groups, from the simplest sponges to giant cetaceans, and explains the principles of taxonomy, anatomy, movement, and behavior. The six key types of marine habitat are described and explored, including shores, mangroves and marsh, shallow waters, coral reefs, open seas, and deep oceans. Book jacket.