Book Review: Great British Marine Animals

Great British Marine Animals
Paul Naylor, Sound Diving Publications, 320 pages (2011).
Read our interview with the author!
 

Organised as an identification guide, what makes this book so special is the commentary on the behaviour of the animals featured. And, of course, the 350 delightful photographs. Unlike some guides, there are no blurred or cloudy images here. Every photo makes it into the book on its own merit.
 
Great British Marine Animals devotes a chapter to each phylum: sponges, cnidarians (like corals), crustaceans, fish, and so on. Over 200 species from British seas are included. This is obviously a selection of animals you might see, and the book does not pretend to be the only guide you will ever need. However, in it is an excellent starting point to identify, and discover more about, the creatures you see on the dive, snorkel or rock pool investigation. The commonest sightings are all covered, including some animals that might have escaped your notice without someone like Paul Naylor to point them out.
 
This publication expands upon the author's previous work, Marine Animals of the South West. There is unavoidable duplication between the two, although many new photos and species have been added. The latest book retains the structure and high standards of the previous one.
 
Paul Naylor's clearly written text is ideal for those who have picked up a sealife book for the first time, yet at the same time has plenty of information to interest professional marine biologists. Naylor has once again produced a book that is a pleasure to own, and one to which I regularly refer.
 
About the Author
Paul Naylor has a doctorate in marine biology and is an associate of the Royal Photographic Society. In the last 20 years, he has dived all over the world. Photographic credits include the California chapter in New Holland's Top Dive Sites of the World, the National Marine Aquarium calendar - Beneath Plymouth Sound, and dozens of articles on marine life in all the major UK dive publications.

For more information read the interview he gave to SCUBA Travel.

Great British Marine Animals is available from the Book Depository (with free worldwide delivery) or from Amazon.

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"Great British Marine Animals, this book is amazing and i think the photos are awesome. It just makes you want to experience the fish in the sea. "
Will Coddington