I once went on a marine biology course at Port Erin, Isle of Man. It was perishing cold and the hotel at which we stayed was a temperance establishment. It was rumoured that the course had moved from one hotel to another along the esplanade in previous years. This was supposedly partly because of the riotous behaviour of the students when they had taken strong drink and partly because their parting gift was a bathroom crammed with every species of marine life – snails, sea anemones, fish and seaweed – they could smuggle in. It was a fine sight, but I do not think the proprietors were so keen! Perhaps they would have appreciated being able to identify their gifts using this attractive book?
A stout paperback, it is crammed with about 350 colour photographs, all of them taken underwater and all of them excellent. This book is effectively an expanded version of the author’s first book, which was about the marine animals of south‐west England (Naylor, 2000). He explains in the introduction that it is intended to aid identification of the common animals of UK seas and to say as much about their lives as possible. It certainly shows the beautiful and fascinating creatures to be found by snorkellers and divers. Honestly, you might think a lot of these creatures were those of warm tropical seas, not our chilly waters.
Most of the book is taken up with sections on the various phyla – sponges, sea anemones, jellyfish, worms, crabs, lobsters, molluscs, bryozoans, starfish, sea squirts and fish. As Naylor explains, to include all 7,000 species found in UK waters would entail a book about 30 times the size of this one. He has thus chosen the most conspicuous and frequently seen animals, while providing a range from each group. The photographs are terrific. I especially liked the beautiful snake locks anemone and the jewel‐like blue‐rayed limpets, but the star has to be the tompot blenny on p. 211. What a character! He seems to have gelled hair, huge blue‐rimmed eyes and the sort of expression that would not be out of place on a TV “yoof” programme – gormless vacancy!
The book concludes with 42 useful references, a list of organizations promoting conservation of marine animals and lists of a few species that give particularly good examples of various types of behaviour, such as parasitism, courtship, hunting arid camouflage.
But is it a book appropriate for a reference library, as it only covers about 20 species? I think so, as it is of very high quality and a conspicuous bargain. I suspect this will be a great success as an introduction for divers, for students and for anyone who loves pottering about in rock pools. A charming book.
