The World Beneath - The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs

*New enhanced edition of the best-selling guide to sea creatures: The World Beneath!*Meet the world's most fascinating sea creatures, see the lives and curiosities of colorful fish and coral reefs. This spectacular volume has more than 300 color photos and extraordinary text from a leading marine biologist and underwater photographer who is the international expert on seahorses. In this richly informative volume, brimming with new discoveries and more than three hundred colorful images of jaw-dropping fish and coral reefs, you'll swim in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans; you'll be dazzled in the Coral Triangle and amazed in Triton Bay. Up close you'll meet the Cenderawasih fairy wrasse, with its florescent yellow streak; the polka-dot longnose filefish; and the multicolored seadragon. There are scarlet-colored corals, baby-blue sponges, daffodil crinoids, and all sorts of mystifying creatures that change color at the drop of a hat. The whale shark is almost larger than life and the author's beloved pygmy seahorse, unless photographed, is almost too tiny to see. The wondrous creatures inside are charmers and tricksters and excel in the arts of seduction and deception, and you'll have the rare chance to see and delight in their antics. You'll also learn what they eat, how they play, and how they care for one another, live on one another, and mimic others when they're afraid. There is also compelling insight into the naming process, which sea creatures are facing extinction, and how we can help them before it's too late. This new and expanded edition of The World Beneath has new text from award-winning author Dr. Richard Smith that covers recent developments and discoveries affecting the rapidly changing landscape of the world's coral reefs, a wealth of new images from recent dives around the world, and a thorough index.

List of contents

Preface

1. Diving In


2. How the Reef Works


3. The Coral Triangle


4. New Discoveries of the Twenty-First Century


5. Things That Live on Things


6. The Unseemly World of Anemonefish


7. Pygmy Seahorses: Tales from the Stables


8. Parasites Rule the Reef


9. Colors of the Reef


10. Flashers and Fairies


11. Coral Reefs in the Twenty-First Century

Afterword

Notes
Map

Index

About the author

Dr. Richard Smith is a marine biologist and conservationist, an award-winning underwater photographer, an acclaimed public speaker, and the leader of diving expeditions around the world; he's been on more than four thousand dives since 1996. Dr. Smith has written hundreds of articles, published internationally, with a primary focus on conservation and marine life. His photographs have been featured around the world, including on dozens of magazine covers and in exhibitions. In 2018 he identified a new species of pygmy seahorse, having first photographed it five years previously. The new species, Hippocampus japapigu, is the size of a grain of rice and from the temperate waters of Japan. In 2020 he named the first pygmy seahorse to be found in the Indian Ocean, the South African Pygmy Seahorse, H. nalu. Dr. Smith has a bachelor's degree in Zoology, a master's degree in Marine Ecology and Evolution, and a PhD that he received for his pioneering research on pygmy seahorses; it was the first PhD ever awarded for the subject. Dr. Smith is a member of the IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Groupand the focal point for pygmy seahorses in the group, as well as the world authority on these fishes and the Global Pygmy Seahorse Expert for iSeahorse.org, which uses citizen science to further research and conservation. He lives in Oxfordshire, England.

Summary

*New enhanced edition of the best-selling guide to sea creatures: The World Beneath!*

Meet the world’s most fascinating sea creatures, see the lives and curiosities of colorful fish and coral reefs. This spectacular volume has more than 300 color photos and extraordinary text from a leading marine biologist and underwater photographer who is the international expert on seahorses.

In this richly informative volume, brimming with new discoveries and more than three hundred colorful images of jaw-dropping fish and coral reefs, you’ll swim in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans; you’ll be dazzled in the Coral Triangle and amazed in Triton Bay. Up close you’ll meet the Cenderawasih fairy wrasse, with its florescent yellow streak; the polka-dot longnose filefish; and the multicolored seadragon. There are scarlet-colored corals, baby-blue sponges, daffodil crinoids, and all sorts of mystifying creatures that change color at the drop of a hat. The whale shark is almost larger than life and the author’s beloved pygmy seahorse, unless photographed, is almost too tiny to see.

The wondrous creatures inside are charmers and tricksters and excel in the arts of seduction and deception, and you’ll have the rare chance to see and delight in their antics. You’ll also learn what they eat, how they play, and how they care for one another, live on one another, and mimic others when they’re afraid. There is also compelling insight into the naming process, which sea creatures are facing extinction, and how we can help them before it's too late.

This new and expanded edition of The World Beneath has new text from award-winning author Dr. Richard Smith that covers recent developments and discoveries affecting the rapidly changing landscape of the world’s coral reefs, a wealth of new images from recent dives around the world, and a thorough index.

Foreword

Mainstream and specialty media targets will include general news interest, scientific, maritime, and photography media. Outlets to include the likes of the New York Times, The Guardian, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, National Geographic, Atlas Obscura, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Discover, World Ocean Journal, World Ocean Review, Oceanographic, Oceanus, Ocean Science, Earth Is Blue, UnderWater Magazine, Photo, Aperture, and The Wandering Lens.

News media push around current events: Dr. Smith has a forthcoming photo essay about coral bleaching publishing in Australian National Geographic. With the ever-worsening state of warming oceans, his photography and expertise are sure to be in demand for news stories, op-eds, and other articles.

Regional promotions: The book will be pitched to media outlets in locales with heavy beach and diving traffic, such as California, Florida, and South Carolina.

Gift guides: The book is an ideal gift and will be heavily pushed for inclusion in holiday roundups, including those for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the winter holidays.

Well-reviewed title: The book was well-received in trade and specialty publications, including Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, DIVER Magazine, The Linnean, The Lady, and X-Ray International Dive Magazine. The new edition will be pitched again for continued coverage.

Targeted digital advertising with SEO keywords will reach readers interested in underwater photography, coral reef life, coral bleaching, and rare marine life, as well as those looking for the perfect gift book.

Social media marketing: Social media marketing on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok will use digital advertising and outreach to influencers who focus on nature photography and environmental issues.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Smith
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 07.05.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9781954641389
• ISBN: 978-1-954641-38-9
• No. of pages: 352
• Illustrations: 4-color
• Subjects: Guides > Hobby, home > Photography, filmmaking, video filmmaking; Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geology; Scuba Diving, SCIENCE / Earth Sciences / Oceanography, Individual photographers, Photography: subject-specific techniques and principles, Oceanography (seas & oceans), PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Underwater, Zoology: fishes (ichthyology), SPORTS & RECREATION / Water Sports / Scuba & Snorkeling