Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds And Selected Fishes

Well organized book with spectacular photographs of many species found in tide pools and near shore.

It's a beautiful, heavy, big book, not a pocket version. Keep this at home or in the car, because it has more organisms of the PNW coastline than any other book. The focus is on invertebrates from worms (had no idea there were so many species) to octopus; enough fish and seaweeds are included to round it out. The photos and succinct text give you as much info as you need for a quick ID. The organization is logical and easy to follow, with color coded pages and--best of all--an index. Highly recommended, especially if you use more portable paperback guides but want a lot more organisms.

Despite much diligent searching, I have found nothing on the internet that comes anywhere close to this comprehensive and beautifully-illustrated book. It's hardly a field guide unless you're training for the West Coast Trail by carrying extra weight on every beach walk, but it is the definitive resource for identifying your photos afterwards. Hefty, and not cheap, but strongly recommended if you want to understand the littoral fauna in depth.

I love the very limited content of the book I've been able to see, however, the binding (of a brand new copy) was in such bad shape that I haven't been able to check out most of it yet for fear of the whole thing coming apart. I am requesting a replacement from Amazon. I will review this book again after I get a new one. I thought it was important to note this, in case this is an issue that needs to be resolved by the printer (if in fact it is a problem for multiple books, not just the one I recieved). Original rating: 3 stars.Revised review-the replacement book was wonderful. No binding issues. This book is amazing. Very detailed. Almost any invert or marine macroalgae you could possibly find while exploring the tidepools of the Pacific Northwest. A must have for marine life aficionados. 5 stars!!!

This book is truly stunning masterpiece, very nicely organized with lots of great photos. I highly recommend this to anybody and everybody who even tries scuba diving on the west coast (I dive every week in Monterey, CA).I have two small issues...1. the book arrived with small damage on the back cover. The package was very nice and the book could not be damaged during shipping. Amazon should do a bit better QA before they ship the books.2. the book is really great however the format is more "coffee table style" - hard cover with sleeve. It makes it virtually impossible to take it with me for my dive trips and look into it right after diving without damaging it. I wish there would be next to this version also softcover version with easy to flip pages divers and nature lovers could take to the field. Probably the best would be Kindle version I could take on my smartphone with me :-)

I was diving in Canada and the lodge hosts had this book on their dinning room table. After easily finding a type of gunnel, that I have been trying to ID for years, I couldn't put the book down. Before the night was over I had logged in to my Amazon.com mobile app and purchased the book. There was no doubt I wanted it waiting for me when I returned from the trip.Doubtful the authors meant for the book to be read cover-to-cover, but it's so well put together and pretty to look at that I couldn't help myself. This is a must-have reference book for any Pacific Northwest diver, or anyone looking to learn more about the amazing little beings that inhabit our home waters.

We spend a lot of time exploring the beaches of Puget Sound and hadn't been able to find a good guide book to what we were finding. Some books were drawings only that were difficult to match to the critters we found. Some were so thorough that it was difficult to get past all the writing to find what we needed. Some were very brief. Then we discovered this book, which is the perfect blend of excellent photographs that are easy to match up with the actual creatures, enough information to be helpful but not overpowering, and contains far more creatures than any other book we found. It has become a valuable treasure to us as we discover marine life. I would highly recommend it!

Perfect condition and the only complete picture encyclopedia of every invertebrate from WA to AK! MUST have for any guide, tour operator, or biologist

This book is hands down the very best book there is out there right now for a comprehensive look of all of the sea life on the Pacific West Coast. I am a photographer and like to name the creatures I photograph in tidal pools and when snorkelling and I have never seen such a book. There is a photo of each and every species and a write up.It really is done so amazingly well!

First off, I want to reiterate two books I'm sorry for buying: 1) A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes: North America [Paperback] & 2) A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore: From the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras [Paperback].Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest is absolutely outstanding. Exceptionally clear/vibrant/professional photographs! The "Quick Reference Guide" & "Table of Contents" are very well thought out and easy to follow. Once you pick it up, it's a hard book to put down.Amazon packaged the order well enough, however, the only downside was the binding was tore inside the front hardcover.Went out on a limb paying $44.00 - however, the book is worth every penny!

Fantastic book with incredible full colour images and basic statistics for all creatures. Be aware it does not contain pictures/information on any marine mammals and contains only information for a few select fishes. Great for identifying everything else though.

Gorgeous pics. After taking every intertidal book out from the library, this was the clear winner. It's wonderful.

This is the go to book for anyone interested in learning about the marine life on the Pacific NW coast, every species listed has a beautiful photo and text to help to identify it. I work in Marine Biology and find it very useful as a general summary book of the life on our coast.