Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) (Oceanographic Series)

Book Description

A comprehensive field guide for aquarists, divers and naturalists, with detailed full color photographs of hundreds of species, encompassing the majority of coral genera one is likely to encounter on reefs around the world, This book defines corals and distinguishes them form similar hydrozoans, zoanthids, and corallimorpharia. The corals are described and compared to similar looking species, and their range and the correct pronunciation of the Latin name is given.

In addition, for aquarists who grow corals in reef aquariums, information is provided in quick reference charts concerning each coral's requirements for light, water movement, and food, hardiness in captivity, aggressiveness toward other corals, and proper positioning in the aquarium.

Customer Reviews:

Good pictures.......2007-02-12

This book has very good pictures but very little written information about each.

Beautiful pictures, but incomplete text.......2006-11-29

This book is full of fantastic full-color pictures with which one can easily identify many of the corals commonly available. Also includes many rare corals.

However, the text material about the corals, care etc. is extremely brief - much too brief. General care and lighting needs for a particulate coral species is given in the form of bar graphs and placement diagrams. This could theoretically be a helpful companion and summary of a more extensive text about the coral species being described. However, in this book, these diagrams are a *replacement* for the text. In and of themselves, the diagrams are inadequate to properly gauge the needs of the coral species.

I was also disappointed that the book completely leaves out many commonly available corals (for example the corallimorphs ("Mushroom corals"), which are common beginners corals). Leaving these corals out while including many rare species which the average hobbyist will never see seems to dilute the usefulness of the book.

I would recommend instead Borneman's "Aquarium Corals" (which I have and refer to constantly), and/or perhaps Sprung and Delbeek's more extensive 3-volume "The Reef Aquarium" (which has received good reviews, but I don't own (yet)).

Good for quick reference.......2006-08-05

If you already know a bit about corals, this is a nice book to have around for quick reference. I especially like that it lists similar corals and gives some basic information on how to tell them apart. It can be deceptive, though. The information it gives on the specific corals is very general, and should not be considered a good source for research on a coral you're planning to actually buy. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm happy I have this book, but I'd suggest supplementing it with a text such as Eric Bourneman's "Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History". This text will actually give you much more specific information on requirements to care for the corals, as well as some better techniques to identify certain corals, since many look very similar, and there's no way any book could show every possible shape and color for many species.

good picture book.......2006-05-31

Book has lots of good pictures to help you identify corals. IN this manner it can be used as a min-coral atlas.
However, the book comes up seveley lacking when you wish to get information on said corals. All info is in bar graph form -- not narrative. A coral may be listed as preferring light 3-7.
That is not helpful... 3 could mean keep it in the dark while 7 could mean it prefers direct light... the 3 and 7 are not informative! Same for feeding icons, coral placement icons, etc.
If you want a book that TELLS you all about different corals, how you care and feed them, etc, then this book is NOT for you!
BUT, the pictures are really nice, closeup, and clear.

Good First Reference Text, pity about poor quality binding and packaging.......2005-10-16

A wonderful first reference text from Julian Sprung. The necessary information is well presented and communicated in a clear manner. A word of advice, don't get the hardcover version as it looses pages through poor binding and Amazon's inability to package adequately results in the corners being damaged in transit.

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Excellent overview

The Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs

Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0126151814

Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the ecology of coral reef fishes presented by top researchers from North America and Australia. Immense strides have been made over the past twenty years in our understanding of ecological systems in general and of reef fish ecology in particular. Many of the methodologies that reef fish ecologists use in their studies will be useful to a wider audience of ecologists for the design of their ecological studies. Significant among the impacts of the research on reef fish ecology are the development of nonequilibrium models of community organization, more emphasis on the role of recruitment variability in structuring local assemblages, the development and testing of evolutionary models of social organization and reproductive biology, and new insights into predator-prey and plant-herbivore interactions.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent overview.......2000-10-09

I needed to quickly learn more about coral reef fish ecology and behavior and this book has been a great help. It covers the basics, trophic ecology, larval and juvenile ecology, reproductive and life history patterns, community organization, and fisheries and management. I can only recommend it!

The Magic School Bus Takes A Dive: A Book About Coral Reefs (Magic School Bus)

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book
Magic School Bus Books
Science in the Deep Ocean
The kids work together for a natural treasure
The Magic School Bus Takes A Dive

The Magic School Bus Takes A Dive: A Book About Coral Reefs (Magic School Bus)
Joanna Cole
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0590187236

Customer Reviews:

book.......2007-09-02

MY daughter loves bugs/nature and this is a great book to help her learn a little more about them.

Magic School Bus Books.......2006-11-10

These are a great addition to any home library. Just having them available is a great Science curriculum. The kids don't even know they are learning.

Science in the Deep Ocean.......2006-08-25

My 5 year old son loves the Magic School Bus. We were not disappointed with this book about the Coral Reefs. The Magic School makes learning about the environment and the ocean fun for all ages.

The kids work together for a natural treasure.......2006-07-09

My five year old son and three year old daughter have been enjoying this book for over a year. The older child finds the story exciting and gains satisfaction from better understanding the world around him. The younger child enjoys how the characters she's come to know so well morf into creatures she's familiar with from visits to the aquarium and the fishmonger.

The story opens with Mrs. Frizzle showing the children a map from her pirate ancestor. The possibility of finding pirate treasure and the threats facing the kids during their search for it motivates them to work together in the manner of coral reef creatures. The kids find the treasure chest in an area of the reef that looks sickly and learn that the metal fittings on the chest have been poisoning the coral.

Magic School Bus Takes a Dive is a worthwhile purchase. The kids also enjoy a related title, Magic School Bus Gets Eaten, which has the class in the ocean again learning about food chains.

The Magic School Bus Takes A Dive.......2003-10-03

Ms. Frizzle takes her class on a field trip to the depths of the ocean to observe the coral reefs up close and learn life that found in reefs. The book, like all the other Magic School Bus books, teaches a lot, and has a moral. In this story the reader can learn a lot about the coral reefs of the sea, and what kind of creatures live there. The moral of this story is to work together to achieve your goals. Children between the ages of 4 and 6 would probably enjoy this book.

Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral

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Development of Scientific Methodology in the 19th Century
Atoll times
GREAT SCIENCE WRITING!
Historical Science at its Best...

Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral
David Dobbs
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0375421610
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Customer Reviews:

Development of Scientific Methodology in the 19th Century.......2005-09-28

_Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral_, David Dobbs

One gets the impression that the author didn't have enough material to fill a book adhering strictly to the title topic, and so padded it with fully 150 pages of material on Louis Agassiz's (Alexander's father) life and work.

No matter, the result is a fascinating study of the change in scientific methodology over the course of the 19th century, using the specific controversy over formation of coral reefs to illustrate opposing conceptions of what it means to "conduct science". What constitutes a scientific theory, and what is the acceptable way to formulate one? Is it necessary to gather a mountain of evidence until an explanatory theory emerges -- as Baconian inductivists would hold -- or is it ok to make a speculative deduction based on a handful of facts, and challenge others to disprove it?

Alexander was very much in the inductivist camp, having observed the downfall of his bombastic father and thereby moved to the opposite conservative pole, in his later years visited more coral reefs than any man before or since in his attempt to falsify Darwin's coral formation theory. He knew that Darwin had been proved spectacularly wrong at Glen Roy by his father, and saw that his coral reef theory was based on circular reasoning: coral reefs were to be attributed to widespread subsidence (which was only a speculative occurrence), while the proof of subsidence was....coral reefs. As a confirmed plodder, I found myself rooting for Alexander, that he would be proved triumphant over his brilliant competitor after so many years of hard work.

Darwin on the other hand (the author argues) was much more in the mold of today's scientists in his approach. More willing to make leaps of the imagination in formulating an hypothesis, to "tell a story", and "focus on dynamic natural processes of change rather than fixed descriptions of static things", before following it up with detailed experimentation and data gathering. Glen Roy taught him "a vital lesson: Productive observation actually rises from sound theory -- not the opposite, as Louis would assert". But his coral reef theory belonged to his early years as well, and was vulnerable to criticism of being too speculative by conservative scientists with Alexander's cast of mind.

The coral reef debate also included aspects familiar to those following the current breuhaha over Intelligent Design. Proponents of Murray's alternative reef theory argued aggressively that those championing Darwin's coral reef theory were "atheistic churchmen and closet idealists, pseudoempiricists who would adore a theory because....they worshipped not thoughts of God but those of man -- and particularly of the man named Darwin." Sound familiar?

Anyway, not to drag on too much, this is a very enjoyable and informative choice for the popular science reader. Islands, island formation and island ecology, are all wonderful topics in themselves, and this book provides insight into those topics, while opening a window onto how science itself works, and how men of science have struggled to define their profession; not at all an easy task when the seemingly contradictory requirements of imagination and rigorous adherence to -- often spotty and incomplete -- fact are called for. Highly recommended.

Atoll times .......2005-08-13

This book is fascinating on many fronts. First, it is a quite readable and informative biography of Louis Agassiz and his son Alexander. Second, it is an account of one of the longest-running controversies in the history of science. And, finally, it gives great insights to the current debate in the US over the teaching of "intelligent design."

Louis Agassiz was considered one of the world's greatest scientists (or natural philosophers as they were called at the time), and, after his migration to the United States from his native Switzerland, was viewed as America's greatest naturalist. He was a shrewd self-promoter who parlayed his explanation of glaciation and ice ages, and his encyclopedic knowledge of animal taxonomy, into a position of power and influence. However, he was a follower of Cuvier, and believed that species were created immutably by God. The fossil record was explained by a series of catastrophic annihilations (floods, ice ages) followed by divine creation of completely new species. Needless to say, he did not accept the theory of the origin of species by natural selection as propounded by Darwin. He and Darwin's followers engaged in heated, personal exchanges and attacks. In the end, however, Agassiz was nearly destroyed by the ensuing controversy, and his reputation and influence suffered severely.

Alexander, on the other hand was more mild-mannered and consciously avoided being drawn into his father's fights. He was a widely respected naturalist and an expert on marine zoology, and privately accepted the truth of evolution. He had his own disagreement with Darwin, however, over Darwin's widely-accepted theory of the formation of coral reefs. While not nearly as destructive as his father's evolution dispute, the disagreement involved much publishing, many attacks, and the accumulation of reams of data supporting each side. The fact that this controversy was not settled authoritatively until core samples were taken on Eniwetok atoll before the nuclear tests of the 1950's, long after the protagonists were dead and buried, makes for an almost mystery novel-like tale.

At times, the book reads like today's newspaper accounts of groups trying promote the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in our children's classrooms. Even though this debate was seemingly settled nearly 150 years ago, some ideas die hard.

This is quite an enjoyable read.

GREAT SCIENCE WRITING!.......2005-04-09

Reef Madness is a fascinating look at the transformation of scientific thought in the 19th century, and the intrigues, controversies, and plain old trash-talking between the major players in one of the era's biggest mysteries. Although the book concentrates on the theories of coral reef formation, it necessarily also covers the fights over natural selection (evolutionary theory) and geologic history.
Dobbs writes like a novelist, so a potentially dry narrative comes alive with the life of Alexander Agassiz, an intelligent, cautious explorer caught up in the ironies of his birthright, and in the ideological struggles of his famous father and his father's nemesis, Charles Darwin. There's even a surprise ending! It's a brilliant bit of scientific reporting, and also nicely illustrates why the scientific method, despite being messy and contentious, ultimately advances our understanding of our universe (sorry, religious dogmatists!). An excellent book. Also recommended for scuba divers and others interested in coral reefs.

Historical Science at its Best..........2005-02-01

This is a superb work of historical science, a gripping story, well-told. And it has everything... Father-son dynamics, the history of science, and the rise of Darwinism, as the story is played out through a profile of Alexander Agassiz and his dad, Louis, one of the last Lamarckians. The main reason I liked the book was the quality, drive, and consistent voice of the insightful prose. The writing is simply lyric! If you liked books like Dava Sobel's book "Longitude" or Mark Kurlansky's "Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World" -- you'll LOVE this book.

Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology (Ecological Studies)

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Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology (Ecological Studies)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0387335382

Book Description

Coral reefs around the world are sustaining massive damage at an alarming rate. Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology provides a uniquely historical perspective on the destruction—through both natural and human processes—of coral reef ecosystems. Chapters applying the principles of geophysics, paleontology, geochemistry, and physical and chemical oceanography supply novel insights into the workings of coral reefs, complementing real-time ecological studies and providing critical information for crafting realistic environmental policy.

By reconstructing the ecological history of coral reefs, the authors are able to evaluate whether or not recent, dramatic changes to reef ecosystems are novel events or part of a long-term trend or cycle. The contributions examine the interacting causes of change, which include hurricane damage, regional outbreaks of coral-consuming predators, disease epidemics, sea-level rise, nutrient loading, global warming and acidification of the oceans. Crucial predictions about the future of coral reefs lead to practical strategies for the successful restoration and management of reef ecosystems. Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology will be of particular interest to students and professionals in ecology and marine biology, including environmental managers.

About the Editor:

Richard B. Aronson is Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Alabama and Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA.

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Coral Reef
Donald M. Silver , and Patricia Wynne
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070579709

Book Description

Hardy adventurers ages 6 - 9 dive into a silent watery world where tiny coral animals grow together to form rock gardens of white, pink, and red-orange. In this action-packed undersea circus, jaws snap, tentacles sting, ink gets squirted, and fish suddenly glow while animals that look like plants sway gently and bashful clams hide the lively secrets inside their shells. Surprisingly dry and armed with a few pieces of equipment and their boundless imaginations, children explore this magical realm one small square at a time. "Science education at its best." — Science Books and Films

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Brings Australia's Great Barrier Reef to life for young readers ages 6 to 11

One Night in the Coral Sea
Sneed B. Collard
Manufacturer: Charlesbridge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1570913900

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Brings Australia's Great Barrier Reef to life for young readers ages 6 to 11.......2005-07-06

Superbly pictured in marvelous and colorful detail by Robin Brickman's cut-paper illustrations, One Night In The Coral Sea by science writer Sneed B. Collard III brings Australia's Great Barrier Reef to life for young readers ages 6 to 11. It is a night in the late spring just after the full moon and something is occurring that only happens once a year. Dozens of coral species simultaneously release thousands, millions, trillions of eggs and sperm into the sea. These then form new coral polyps that will settle onto the coral reef and form new colonies, extending the reach of the reef along the Australian coast. Enthusiastically recommended for both school and community library collections, One Night In The Coral Sea is an entertaining as it is informative.

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Jump into Science: Coral Reefs
Sylvia Earle
Manufacturer: National Geographic Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0792269535
Release Date: 2003-04-01

Book Description

A jewel-toned parrotfish guides a young snorkeler through the stunning underwater realm of coral reefs. Readers encounter an amazing array of fish, sharks, worms, dolphins, turtles, and other creatures that live in and among the coral—and see how these various animals relate to one another. During this colorful tour, children also discover how reefs are formed and learn how these precious ecosystems protect our world by keeping the oceans healthy. Earle's fact-filled text and Matthews's exuberant illustrations are sure to appeal to curious youngsters!

The Coral Reef Tunnel Book: Take a Peek Under the Sea! (Take a Peek series)

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The Coral Reef Tunnel Book: Take a Peek Under the Sea! (Take a Peek series)
Joan Sommers
Manufacturer: Tunnel Vision Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0975415026

Book Description

The incredible beauty and biodiversity of the coral reef is brought to life in this expandable accordion book that stretches out to provide a 3-D view of a multicolored undersea world. A look into the tunnel reveals clownfish hovering over a field of anemone tentacles, a spotted moray eel poking its head out from its hiding place, and the countless other sea creatures inhabiting this magnificent, endangered ecosystem. A 16–page guide to the fish and corals of the reef is also included.

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At Home in the Coral Reef
Katy Muzik
Manufacturer: Charlesbridge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0881064866

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