Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #700785 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-02
• Original language: Italian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
Go[es] a little beyond the basic identification guides by looking at some issues ... and the complexity of ecosystems. -- Sharon Wootton "Everett Herald" (05/25/2002)

Synopsis
Coral reefs, with their rich diversity of fascinating inhabitants, are amongst the most beautiful and complex marine ecosystems. This concise and informative field guide features 550 colour photographs that illustrate 400 different species, individual forms, patterns and coloration.

Customer Reviews

A collection of surplus photographs.
I have to commence by saying that the photography in this book is quite excellent. But that is all. It is not "The Dive Guide to have" it not even "A Leading Guide." It is certainly not an "Awesome book for any diver!" WHY? Because there are far too many errors and the product cannot, therefore, be trusted. Far too many creatures are wrongly identified.

Yes, Andrea & Antonella Ferrari are excellent photographers but during the past 9 years in which they have been photographing the underwater world, they have not learned enough about the creatures that have become their subjects. There is far more to Marine Biology than taking a photo and looking up the fish in a book!

In short, the authors of this book do not appear to have any of the qualifications, knowledge or experience required to produce a so-called definitive guide to over 1,200 world-wide marine species.

Having found mistakes, I got the distinct impression this book was simply a collection of their own surplus photographs - good though they may be.

In short, if you are diving and you see something which is also found in this book, you will have to check that identification with a more reliable source before committing either common name or Latin name to your logbook.

NM

Basic but good
A good, easily understood and reasonably well illustrated field guide to the intricacies of coral reef tropical marine life. Basically aimed at the non-specialist reader, this guide features nonetheless very clear texts and excellent color photos, but the number of worldwide species featured is quite limited. For a much more in-depth, photo-packed and exhaustive field guide to coral reef marine life worldwide, advanced readers, divers, snorkellers and underwater photographers should seriously consider the latest offerings by this well respected author/photographer husband-and-wife team, such as the spectacularly illustrated A Diver's Guide to Reef Life, the highly specialized A Divers Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife and the truly informative A Diver's Guide to the Art of Underwater Photography: Creative Techniques and Camera Systems for Digital and Film. These three new works are probably the best options available today.