General Fish/Plant life books

[cruzegirl]

Does anyone know a good book for those of us getting into scuba that tells about those things we will see underwater? Such as fish, plants, mammals? I'm very new at this and couldn't figure out why my experienced buddy was freaking out at a plant I was standing on in our dive.... Turns out it was coral..... I've never seen it alive....It looked like a fuzzy plant.... So I want to read/learn so I'm not so ignorant.....lol.... I would love one for California or in general....:)

[TrqoisWtrs]

That should have been one of the first things they taught you, never touch or stand on anything when diving - no wonder your buddy was freaking out! :)

 

These are some pretty good books - I have the little waterproof one that I carry in my gear bag so its handy to look at.

[Jerry_G]

Stop by any of the dive shops in the area you are planning to dive. They usually have charts and books on coral and fish local to the area.

[simonv]

The book I like very much is Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide published by Tropical Reef Research, available in dive shops or Amazon? It's the most complete I've seen for corals, fish, nudibranchs and what have you. The one I have happens to be for Indo-Pacific, but they have several books for different regions.

[cruzegirl]

cruisintigger, I was taught to not stand on anything except sand... And as a newbie, I still have some buoyancy issues.. so I thought the sand was ok... But turns out there was coral there... very embarassing that I didn't know what it was....:confused: So I want to learn more about what's down there... That's one thing they need to cover more in Scuba classes... Not all of us know that... lol... But trust me, didn't do it on the next 2 dives..... ;)

[Diver_Dave]

Sports Chalet has some great books and underwater cards.