Marine Biology and Ocean Science
Contributors: Cover art by marine artist Richard Ellis; additional paintings by Winslow Homer and Richard Ellis
Edition: 1996
Publisher: Balaena Books
Published: December 1990
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 350
ISBN-13: 9780962409400
Subjects: Marine Biology; Oceans; Oceanography
Genres: Science; Marine Biology
First sentence: From years of tradition, we know our home as "Planet Earth," but from some points of view, we could just as easily call ourselves "The Water Planet" or "Planet Ocean."
Description: Excerpt:  "Nearly 2000 years before Columbus, the Greek scholar and mathematician Parmenides determined that the earth was a sphere (500 B.C.).  By 200 B.C., the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes, working in Egypt, was able to calculate the Earth's circumference.  In other words, not only did the ancient mathematicians know that the earth was a sphere - they also knew the distance around it."   ------------   Excerpt:  "Magellan was dead and largely unacclaimed in the nation that had sponsored his voyage.  Juan Sebastian del Cano was the first person to sail around the world in a single voyage, and he was celebrated in Spain with the fame that his achievement warranted.  The cost had been enormous, but Eratosthenes, Parmenides, and Ptolemy had been right all along:  The world was round."  ------------------  OVERVIEW:   This twenty-three chapter text (10-12) surveys the physical and chemical characteristics of earth's oceans, along with a phylogenetic treatment of their biota.   Early chapters treat the origins of ocean science (Greek mathematicians, buccaneers and Britannia, HMS Challenger, the modern era, etc.) along with topics such as salinity, pressure and light, plate tectonics, and tides, waves, and currents.  Later chapters survey everything from plankton (diatoms, radiolarians, coccolithophores, dinoflagellates, foraminiferans, copepods, etc.) to primitive bony fishes (e.g., lungfishes), sea turtles, seabirds, whales and other marine mammals, and coastal systems such as mangrove estuaries, rocky coasts, barrier islands, tide pools, and beaches.  This title, including its 1991 edition, appear to be the first use of the descriptive phrase "marine biology and ocean science."
Notes: Illustrations include numerous paintings such as "Eight Bells," "The Fog Warning," and "Undertow" by Winslow Homer; "Bryde's Whales," "Sei Whales," and "Basking Sharks" by Richard Ellis; "Christopher Columbus" by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, and "Ferdinand Magellan" and "Juan Sebastian del Cano" by Augusto Meneses. (These also appear in the hardcover edition.)
Table of contents: class: section
title: An Unlikely Planet; class: section
title: Properties of Water; class: section
title: The Origins of Ocean Science; class: section
title: Salinity, Pressure, and Light; class: section
title: Tides, Waves, and Currents; class: section
title: Plate Tectonics; class: section
title: Plankton; class: section
title: Algae, Seagrasses, and Blue-green Bacteria; class: section
title: Sponges; class: section
title: Jellyfishes, Corals, Anemones, and Comb jellies; class: section
title: Clams, Snails, and Squids; class: section
title: Barnacles, Crabs, Lobsters, and Shrimp; class: section
title: Sea stars, Sand dollars, and Sea Urchins; class: section
title: Seaworms; class: section
title: Other Marine Invertebrates; class: section
title: Lampreys, Sharks, and Rays; class: section
title: Primitive Bony Fishes; class: section
title: Advanced Bony Fishes; class: section
title: Sea Turtles and Sea Snakes; class: section
title: Whales and Dolphins; class: section
title: Other Marine Mammals; class: section
title: Seabirds; class: section
title: Along the Coasts