Snorkeling Guide to Marine Life Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas Paperback – April 1, 1995

I gave this to a friend and she LOVED it. It’s a perfect size with coated pages she can put in her beach bag. The pictures are vibrant and I really loved that there were short descriptions of each. Everyone at the beach 4gh of July party loved it and kept being passed around.

After reading the other reviews about this book here on Amazon, I opted to purchase it to accompany me on a 3-week kayaking trip of the outer islands of Belize. I am more or less a novice at tropical snorkeling and at the beginning of the trip, I had no idea who I was sharing my underwater adventures with, but after consulting this book before and after every dive, by the end of the trip I could say "oh, there's a stoplight parrotfish in the intermediate stage" as if I'd known my whole life. Beautiful full-color photos helped greatly with identifying my finned friends and the corals and other creatures they live with. Brief explanations of each of the groups of critters were interesting and educational too. This is definitely not a fully-encompassing guide and probably not for folks who already know most of the plants and animals they are snorkeling with in the Caribbean, but for those who are starting off completely clueless, I *HIGHLY* recommend this book. Both I and my kayaking partner (who grew up in Panama and had been diving with these guys all his life, but never knew who they were!) thoroughly enjoyed learning from this book. I'm back here on Amazon now to purchase the more comprehensive books for our next Caribbean kayaking trip! :) Two thumbs up!

Yes this is a very nice book for identifying marine life. This is from the series of wonderful books by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. They did the much more informative Reef Fish ID, Reef Creature ID, and Reef Coral ID. This Snorkeling Guide has many of the same great photos and is very useful if you are satisfied with simply knowing the name of the creature. What is missing are the more extensive notes from the fuller editions; those missing notes tell WHERE the creature is found (e.g., only in the Bahamas, on the Gulf side of Florida, etc.). Also missing is the Reaction to Divers section and the more informative introductions to groups (like Angel Fish, or Wrasses). So, although this is a nice book, it really is a much simplified book for identification. It does not function as a Field Guide (the information on individual creatures is very slight). If you want a comprehensive field guide, this is not the book.

This book is for people going to dive or snorkel the coral reefs and want to be able to spot a stoplight parrotfish or a blue head and know it by name. I got this for a Study Abroad trip to the Bahamas and this book saved me so much trouble! It came recommended by my professor and I understand why! I don't recommend getting it from Amazon but the book itself is awesome! Enjoy the water! (And yes, I did see a queen angelfish, the same species as the cover)

If you are going to Florida or the Caribbean and want something small to put in your bag this is perfect. Much better pictures than similar guides available locally. Good for a casual snorkeler or pier walker. Many fish. Organized by general appearance like “small ovals”, or “silvery”. Also includes an adequate selection of common invertebrates, corals, plants, and macroalgae. Many common Caribbean aquaria are included. They seem to be chosen more by “what you will actually see” than some other guides. If you are really into identification I would get the 3 volume “Reef Set”, by the same author, Paul Humann, but this is nice to carry with you. I live in Florida.

We snorkel a lot and find this book really helpful to remind us of the identity of fish and sea-life and coral. Just brought to Bonaire and kept on the coffee table to confirm our sightings. Colorful large pictures and small enough to easily pack.

I've been to the Riviera Maya coast of Mexico every year for 9 years, and have spent the bulk of my time there snorkeling and taking pictures of fish. I never knew what these fish were for sure until I got this book and matched up the photographs to my own photographs of the Caribbean fish. It has been so helpful in identifying the various species, and, lo and behold, a lot of fish look completely different in different stages of their lives. This book has beautiful, professional photographs, and clear explanations of what to look for. There are also drawings to help identify fin, tail and body shapes, and shows the differences between juveniles and terminal (adult) fish. I really appreciate having this and being able to accurately caption my own photos, instead of "yellow fish with black stripes."

This 80-page book is taken from the three-volume Reef Set also by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. As a first-time snorkeler, I found this book fairly helpful but limited by its size. One problem is that it simply can't cover that many species. Another problem is that juveniles of many fish don't look at all like the adults. The Reef Fish volume helps a bit by including picture of juveniles along with adults (the shorter book also does this in a few cases) and, of course, by covering more species. If all you want is a short, inexpensive guide, I definitely recommend this book--there are not a lot of alternatives. If identifying critters is important to you, consider springing for the Reef Set.