Fish Science

Ocean animals' special features help them survive in all parts of their watery homes, from the deep dark depths to busy coral reefs. Learn all about the amazing adaptations of ocean animals.

Zoom! A California sea lion makes a deep dive. Listen to learn all about these playful mammals.

An elephant seal glides through the sea. Gulp! It catches a small fish. Listen to learn all about these blubbery mammals.

A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.

"There is a fish on the sand; I see it clearly. But it is not on its side, lying still. It is partly upright. It moves. I can see its gills, off the ground and wide open. It looks as though it’s standing up." A few decades into the twenty-first century, in their permanently flooded garden in Cornwall, Cathy and her wife Ephie give up on their vegetable patch and plant a rice paddy instead. Thousands of miles away, ex-pat Margaret is struggling to adjust to life in Kuala Lumpur, now a coastal city. In New Zealand, two teenagers marvel at the extreme storms hitting their island.

At nine years old, Eugenie Clark developed an unexpected passion for sharks after a visit to the Battery Park Aquarium in New York City. At the time, sharks were seen as mindless killing machines, but Eugenie knew better and set out to prove it. Despite many obstacles in her path, Eugenie was able to study the creatures she loved so much. From her many discoveries to the shark-related myths she dispelled, Eugenie made wide scientific contributions that led to her being nicknamed Shark Lady.

As cognitive psychologist Brian Butterworth shows us in Can Fish Count?, many “simple” animals - such as bees, which count trees and fence posts, and guppies, which can size up groups - have a sense of numbers. And unlike humans, they don’t need to be taught. In telling animals’ stories, Butterworth shines new light on one of our most ancient questions: Just where, exactly, do numbers come from?

Did you know that the male sea horse is the only animal species on Earth that carries and delivers the babies? Kids will learn about amazing creatures that live in the sea like the gigantic blue whale, shy octopus, and dancing sea horse. From learning that blue whales are the loudest animals on the planet to the clever way an octopus defends itself against predators, young learners will remain curious about life in the ocean.

Warden Force is a collection of award-winning short stories currently spanning seven volumes. Each story reveals the true adventures of California Fish and Game Wardens and the wildlife-destroying outlaws they pursue. These stories illustrate the wide variety of wildlife-related problems wardens face in California, which has a greater diversity of wildlife and wildlife habitat than any other state and is second only to Alaska in its vast expanses of wilderness.

People of the Sturgeon is a history of the lake sturgeon in Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago region, told through a fascinating collection of stories on the culture, art, and science surrounding this mysterious fish. From some of the earliest inhabitants of Wisconsin, the Menominee Indian Tribe, to the spearers who flock to frozen Lake Winnebago for the annual sturgeon spearing season, people have always been drawn to this ancient fish.

It's almost Fish-mas in Kittentail Cove and the purrmaids can't wait for Santa Paws to arrive! When Coral's younger brother, Shrimp asks her to mail his letter to Santa Paws, Coral is happy to help! But then the day gets busy and the post office closes early and...will Santa Paws still bring presents if he doesn't get Shrimp's letter? With some help from her friends, Coral will do whatever it takes to give Shrimp the Merriest Fish-mas ever!

Trevor Corson takes us behind the scenes at America's first sushi-chef training academy, as eager novices strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking. He delves into the biology and natural history of the edible creatures of the sea, and tells the fascinating story of an Indo-Chinese meal reinvented in 19th-century Tokyo as a cheap fast food.

When Jelly wonders what a unicorn is, Narwhal explains that they’re pretty much narwhals of the land (!)—and then gets carried away with a grand plan to see one. With the help of Star, Narwhal’s wish comes true in the wildest, weirdest way: Narwhal gets some land legs and takes their first step ashore.

Few fish are as beloved, or as obsessed over, as the American shad. Although shad spend most of their lives in salt water, they enter rivers by the hundreds of thousands in the spring and swim upstream heroic distances in order to spawn, then return to the ocean.

Cousins Wil Wychwood and Sophie Isidor unearth yet another dastardly scheme from this dangerous secret society. Now the Serpent’s Chain plans to seize the Manitoba Legislative Building – or The Palace of the Blazing Star, as it is known in MiddleGate.

Written by a marine scientist (and winner of French eloquence competitions), this work of narrative nonfiction blends Bill François’ personal story with that of sea creatures to create an original and exciting work. In poetic prose, he describes his unlikely journey from being a Parisian child, afraid of the water and crippled by self-consciousness, to an eloquent and self-assured young man with a passion for the ocean and all who inhabit it.

An intimate account of the beauty, mystery, and amazing science of the ocean.

Rex Dexter is cursed...with brains...and daring...and more than his fair share of devilish good looks. But also with an actual curse: dead animals keep showing up in his bedroom, wanting him to solve their murders. After successfully sleuthing a series of endangered animal assassinations, Rex is pretty sure he's home free, spiritually speaking. But that's when he finds a 2,000-pound narwhal in his beanbag chair. And this tough guy is dead. And super crabby about it.

A group of traders huddles around a pile of dried shark fins on a gleaming white floor in Hong Kong. A Papua New Guinean elder shoves off in his hand-carved canoe, ready to summon a shark with ancient magic. A scientist finds a rare shark in Indonesia and forges a deal with villagers so it and other species can survive. In this eye-opening adventure that spans the globe, Juliet Eilperin investigates the fascinating ways different individuals and cultures relate to the ocean’s top predator. Along the way, she reminds us why, after millions of years, sharks remain among nature’s most awe-inspiring creatures.

During an ordinary visit to the library, a young girl pulls out a not-so-ordinary book from the shelves. As she turns the pages in this book about coral reefs, the city around her slips away, and she finds herself surrounded by the coral cities of the sea and the mysterious plants and animals that live, hunt, and hide there.