Posted by Eric Frasco on January 22, 2003 at 09:42:07:
In Reply to: marine life ID help for my trip.... posted by Jeff on January 22, 2003 at 08:48:20:
Jeff:
I use a number of books, and no one book stands out above the others.
What are you interested in? Fish, invertebrates, plants or plant-like animals? You will need at least three books to cover all the categories.
I found a good list of book online at: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/kerryw/creature/books.htm
I have some other titles that I have found usefull and I will post more titles when I get home tonight and can pull a few volumes off the bookshelf.
As far as ID cards go, I recently found a good fold out at Barnes and Noble that showed plants, animals, and invertibrates. And it was less than $10 (unexpected for B&N!). It was good enough that I plan on using it next time I teach U/W Naturalist.
If you decide to purchase any of the suggested titles, I have found that you can usually get them at Amazon.com for pretty cheap (sometimes less than retail, even after shipping costs), and they usually arrive in only a few days.
And finally, get an U/W camera, even a cheap one. Marine life at NCI is fantastic. And if you can't ID something, you can post an image here and one of the readers should be able to tell you what it is.
-Eric