Customer Reviews

Hawaii's Sea Creatures: A Guide to Hawaii's Marine Invertebrates, Revised Edition

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Hawaii isn`t just big waves or sunny beaches.
For a fish enthusiast,it is a heaven of beautifull animals.
And this book is very helpfull when knowing what animals that hides beneath the surface of the ocean.
Practically every habitat is invaded by creatures creeping,floating,crawling or swimming.
Over 500 species are identified here. Scientific & common names,natural history,size,cultural importance,ecology and suitability for aquariums - everything can be found here!
The habitats are also presented,before the ID section begins.
The book begins with a chapter about sponges,which are not as diverse here as in many other areas,but nevertheless,they are very colorfull. Then,we will see some jellyfish in the next chapter. My favourite is the white-spotted one. We also have Hawaii`s corals here. They are not well-known and not so colorfull as their relatives in the Indian Ocean,but it is good to know their names. The anemones are also quite anonymous,but very colorfull. After the huge coral chapter,the worms are presented,both the bristleworms and the nudibranch-like flatworms. The latter are the most beautifull creatures of the reef,with all of their colors,but not the cutest. The worm chapter is rather small,but the next chapter is covering the molluscs. They are very diverse,with more than 110 000 species worldwide. Both clams,shells,nudibranchs (=sea snails)and octopuses are presented here. The cowries are famous here,and I can`t understand why their shells are so famous - it is the living animals that covers the shell that are really amazing!Other shells included here are the venomous cone shells,the huge triton and many more. The nudibranchs should not be forgotten either. Their colors and shapes are endless in variations and beauty. Black,white,green,yellow,purple,pink - every color exists!They are even beating the fishes in beauty. The octopuses,of which only 8 species are presented,are rather similar to each other,so it`s not much to say about them. Then,I jump to the second of the book`s big chapters - about the Crustaceans. The crustaceans are my favourite invertebrates and therefore,this section is very interesting. Many rare species of reef crabs,lobsters,shrimps,mantis shrimps and unusually colorfull hermit crabs are presented here. My favorite is the rock lobster. The last chapter treats the echinoderms,which are highly developed although they lack head!The seastars,sea cucumbers,urchins and featherstars are included here.

After you`ve seen that chapter,the wonderfull book is over!
And it has been really great.
REMEMBER: This is just what I have told you!Now it`s your turn to dive in and get your own invertebrate knowledge!

Hawaii's Sea Creatures is the very best field guide to marine invertebrates ever published. There are an amazing number of species listings contained in this huge book. Jellyfish, crabs, shrimps, nudibranchs, shellfish, and dozens of others are covered here. A landlocked ocean lover will certainly appreciate the beautiful and colorful photos of marvelous creatures. The range that the guide covers seems to be much wider than Hawaii, covering the Micronesian area as well. The book's excellent detail and photographs keep the reader engrossed for a very long time. (Did this to me) Your very best buy would be the special hardback edition, which is newly updated and one of the best purchases here on Amazon.com.

I just returned from a vacation in Hawaii. I took this book, along with a reef fish book also by Mr. Hoover. While I highly recommend both books, the comprehensiveness and quality of this book make it a real standout. How Mr. Hoover managed to include photos and descriptive text of so many common reef invertebrates is amazing enough, but I was really impressed with how much fun this book was to read. I found myself taking it to dinner and reading (much to my wife's chagrin).

Author John Hoover has done the impossible. He has given us a book that covers over 500 species of marine invertebrates in Hawaii with excellent color photos of each, an explanation of major groups, and specific information on each species. Mr Hoover's writing style is highly readable and to the point. The list of people he contacted for taxonomic information on species reads like a "who's who" of invertebrate researchers. This is a tremendous undertaking and an extremely valuable resource for the marine enthusiast. There is no other book like it!

I am a life long conchologist and professional biologists. I have come to accept that most books are superficial about their coverage of marine invertebrates. Further, they lack information or just plain have wrong data. Not so with this book. It is UNBELIEVABLE! Outstanding photos. Outstanding information that is accurate. Comprehensive beyond any similar book I have ever seen (boy I wish there were other regional guides this good!)

Ok the down side of this book. The printing is small and will challenge those with poor eyes. And the book is thick 360+ pages which becomes an issue when you consider weight loads in luggage.

We're diver and this book help us to recognize everything we saw. We love to open this book after dove and looked for any creature we saw or we took pictures. Very helpful !
Recommended for every diver or snorkeler

My new husband and I used this book to help us identify the urchins, corals and crabs we photographed on our big island honeymoon. The book was very helpful and easy to use. We liked the interesting information introducing each section. We are strictly amateurs in photography and biology, but we still found the book's organization and content understandable.

Every once in a while an anatomical term was used that we did not see explained somewhere. It would have been helpful to have those defined somehow, or perhaps a basic anatomical drawing to represent that animal type at the beginning of each subsection, with labels to the key parts that are frequently referred to in the species descriptions. Most of these terms we were able to figure out, but there were just a few that we could not. Overall, the book is excellent, even for folks like us without an extensive science background.

If you ever wanted a complete guide to hawaiian invertebrates, this is the only option you should consider. I'm a diver and an aquarium keeper and this covers all the questions that I've come up with.

John Hoover has combined an astounding amount of information and stunning photographs in this book. Unlike many such books, the subjects in the pictures are not partially hidden and are very well defined due to proper lighting. The author provides information on typical habitat of the species (depth, type of bottom, current), habits (nocturnal or diurnal, aggressive or shy, etc.), common or rare, endemic to Hawaii, and unique characteristics. He also describes many interesting asides on most species such as edibility, possible hazards (toxicity, venomous spines, etc.), mating habits, and suitability for aquariums.

The book would appeal to and be suitable for all levels of interest in the subject from the weekend diver or snorkeler to the professional marine biologist. In fact, there are separate indexes of common names, Hawaiian names, and scientific names.

As a wannabe biologist who instead spent 40 years in a chemistry laboratory, I would have just one suggestion for the author. That would be to devote about 2 additional pages to a flow chart illustrating the major phyla, classes, and orders of the subjects in the book. While these are probably very clear to a professional biologist, I would have found such a chart useful.

and who knew he was just a professional photographer? the level of information is so in detail, i thought he was a biologist! GREAT BOOK!!!