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A RHODE ISLAND SEA GRANT BOOK
Guide to Marine Mammals & Turtles of the U.S. Atlantic & Gulf of Mexico
Kate Wynne and Malia Schwartz
Illustrated by Garth Mix
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award 2000
Spiral-bound guide, 114 pp. + vi, soft cover, 8.5" wide x 5" tall, hundreds of color photographs, illustrations, and maps. 1999. UM-SG-PI-99-03. ISBN 0-938412-43-4.
Cost: $25.00 plus $1.50 state tax (Maryland residents only) and shipping and handling (rates) |
Marine mammals and turtles have adapted to life in a three-dimensional environment to which humans are only brief and superficial visitors. For the most part, their lives remain a captivating mystery to us, punctuated by our brief encounters with those that surface within sight at sea or come ashore to rest, nest, breed, or die. Our knowledge of many marine mammal and turtle species is frustratingly limited, hampered by infrequent viewing opportunities and difficulties identifying those seen.
For the interested public, the ability to identify individual species is often the first step to appreciating the lives and conservation needs of marine mammals and turtles. But species identification is also key to improving our knowledge about these species, their distribution, their natural history, and the causes and impact of their deaths. Increasingly, accurate species identification is expected of fishermen, stranding network volunteers, and fishery observers nationwide whose species-specific sightings, mortality, and bycatch data are used to managed the species and their interactions with humans.
As the only guidebook that covers the U.S. Atlantic species of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, manatee, and sea turtles, this book serves as the definitive field guide for identifying characteristics and habits of these important marine animals. It is designed to familiarize its users with distinguishing traits of the cetaceans, pinnipeds, manatee, and sea turtles commonly found in this region. Also included are less common species whose perceived "rarity" may be more a function of misidentification than actual scarcity. This guide's format is intended to encourage fast, accurate species identification using key physical and behavioral characteristics, distribution maps, and comparative surface profiles. It is designed to weather many seasons of sea duty by mariners, fishermen, and biologists. We hope it is equally information for shore-based users of all ages and backgrounds.
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![[cover of Marine Mammal Guide]](/images/uploads/siteimages/store/marine_mammals_medium2.jpg)
