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Is there an inclusive index for identifying sea life?
Is there an inclusive index for identifying sea life?
I appreciate that everyone labels the pics they post of the beautiful sea creatures, but how in the world do you know what you are looking at? We will be in StJ next week so I have little time to buy a book. I know there are maps of the island with a small index. My guess is that I will be glued to the internet with all my pics.
The Humann guides are the Holy Grail of fish ID. Here's a link to them on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Set-Creature ... 033&sr=1-1
They also have these books in stock at the Friends of the National Park store.
In addition to the full books (which admitedly are kind of heavy), the Friends of the VINP store sells an abridged version of the Fish ID and Creature ID books. They are called "Reef Fish in a Pocket" and "Reef Creature in a Pocket." The books are very light and thin, about 4 inches by 4 inches, have water-resistant pages, and feature all of the most common fish and crabs etc that you might find. As of May, they were charging $9/each for the pocket guides.
I have both. I keep the big guides at the villa and bring the pocket guides with me to the beach.
http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Set-Creature ... 033&sr=1-1
They also have these books in stock at the Friends of the National Park store.
In addition to the full books (which admitedly are kind of heavy), the Friends of the VINP store sells an abridged version of the Fish ID and Creature ID books. They are called "Reef Fish in a Pocket" and "Reef Creature in a Pocket." The books are very light and thin, about 4 inches by 4 inches, have water-resistant pages, and feature all of the most common fish and crabs etc that you might find. As of May, they were charging $9/each for the pocket guides.
I have both. I keep the big guides at the villa and bring the pocket guides with me to the beach.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
That's what we have also - hard to beat.Maggy wrote:I can really recommend "Reef fish Identification - Florida, Caribbean and Bahamas" by Paul Human.
Maggy
When Leslie first got her diver certification our boys were 4 and 2 years old. We bought the books so that we could show them what we had seen when we came back from diving. It made a nice family activity, and as a side benefit the boys learned a lot about sea creatures. Now they are both divers as well, and they had the advantage of already knowing what most of the fish they saw were on their first dives!
Come see us!
Another vote for Humann & Deloach's 3 volumes.
If you don't have time to buy books and are taking your computer to the island, this site will help you. Though the list is not extensive, it identifies the major species of fish & marine invertebrates in the Caribbean.
http://reefguide.org/carib/index_all.html
Have a wonderful trip!
If you don't have time to buy books and are taking your computer to the island, this site will help you. Though the list is not extensive, it identifies the major species of fish & marine invertebrates in the Caribbean.
http://reefguide.org/carib/index_all.html
Have a wonderful trip!