Ocean: From the Shore to the Abyss

Marine biologist de Vos (Humpback Whale) presents an extraordinary visual and informational exploration of oceans. Each chapter focuses on a different depth zone, from the ocean’s surface, where violet snails and blue sea dragons hang “as a bat hangs from the roof of a cave”; to the sunlight zone, home to seagrass meadows, singing humpback whales, and colorful coral reefs; to the increasingly dark twilight and midnight zones, where glowing fish, shrimp, squid, and jellyfish emit light like “fireworks displays”; and, finally, to the pitch-black abyss, which, despite its dearth of food sources, “contains biodiversity that rivals terrestrial rainforests.” The text is filled with intriguing trivia, like how parrotfish in tropical seas help create beach sand by crunching coral with their incredibly hard teeth and how Point Nemo—a region of the Pacific that is farther from inhabited land than any other spot on Earth—has become “the maritime graveyard of the space age” where countries intentionally crash their spacecrafts at the end of their usefulness. These captivating details are paired with more than 400 illustrations, including dazzling color photographs, vintage prints, and creative infographics. Readers will be wowed. (Jan.)