The Marine World is an immense, three-dimensional living space inhabited by marine life that varies from the mundane to the bizarre. Its salty influence extends up river estuaries, over seashores and inland with brine-laden spray.

This book covers all those organisms that live in, on and around the ocean bringing together in a single text everything from the minuscule to the immense. With chapters on marine bacteria, plants, fungi and protozoa, as well as all the major groups of marine invertebrates, plus fish, reptiles, mammals and birds, it provides an insight into the existence and way of life of almost everything living in the ocean. Each animal or plant is found in its own particular place and the book encompasses principal ocean habitats and ecosystems including open water, seashores, deepsea, coral reefs and many more. Written with clear, accessible text and illustrated throughout with photographs and detailed drawings, this book provides in depth information to provide answers for each group on 'what?' 'where?' and 'how?', via sections on identification, distribution, structure, biology, classification and conservation.

This book is for the inquisitive: for the naturalist on, in and around the ocean, for the student who needs more detail, for the scientist wanting background knowledge, for the diver exploring what he is seeing, for the fisherman's finds, for parents to answer "what's this, mum?", for anyone who loves the ocean.

Foreword by Mark Carwardine