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t the end of the street where I grew up on City Island, there was a beach. As
a kid, I would walk the shore when the tide was out, looking for hermit
crabs, starfish, and whatever else washed up. When the tide was high, we
would swim in the bay.

For bigger surf, we headed to Jones Beach on Long Island.

With each huge wave, my sister and I had three choices: jump over, duck
under it, or try to ride it to shore. I can still feel the burning sensation of
saltwater going up my nose.

My family has always treasured being near the water.

My parents still live in that house. Every summer evening they go down to
the beach to join the “sunset club,” where they chat with neighbors while the
waves lap and the sun goes down.

Working on my books — Farm

On Instagram, posts showed kids

Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and

learning from them, carrying them

Food Anatomy — has led me to

on nature walks, and copying

explore the world in a deeper way.

drawings from them.

But each book takes over a year

to create, and I couldn’t imagine

I also received handwritten letters

doing another one. But then

from kids. Some drew me pictures,

readers changed my mind. I received

like vegetables growing or flowers

emails from people from around

in a rainbow of colors. They told

the world telling me how much they

me which book they liked best or

loved the books.

what they loved about nature or

6
about their favorite food or animal.

I cherish these letters. Twelve-year-

old Lydia from Maine wrote, “Since I

was younger, I dreamed of becoming

a marine biologist. I think growing

up on the coast influenced this. I

love your books and I would really

enjoy one called Ocean Anatomy. I

was wondering if you ever decided

to make another book if you would

consider the topic.”

I thought of my memories of my

childhood beach. I thought about

the first time I went snorkeling and

never heard of — nudibranch, giant

saw brightly colored fish. I also

spider crabs, leafy sea dragons. And

thought about climate change and

spent nights worrying what what

how it was affecting our beautiful

would happen to our beautiful oceans

oceans and the images I saw of

as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

starving polar bears. But most of

grows and turtles confuse plastic

all, I thought of Lydia becoming a

bags for jellyfish and eat them.

marine biologist, and all the children who had written to me, and I decided

I hope this book opens your eyes to

to do another book.

all the incredible sea life we don’t

even realize is there. I hope this book So here I am.

reminds you how much we need to

conserve all these fascinating plants I enlisted the help of the wonderful

and creatures. I hope more children

John Niekrasz who worked with me

are inspired to get involved and

on Nature Anatomy to collaborate

learn how to protect and save our

with me again. He has done extensive

marvelous oceans.

research on all the plants and animals in the ocean and on the shores. We

tried to include as much as we could.

Along the way, I learned about so

many jaw-dropping animals I had

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The surface of the ocean reflects the color of the sky. On cloudy days, the
ocean appears gray. When sunlight shines on the ocean, water molecules
absorb light in the red part of the spectrum first. Red, orange, and yellow
wavelength colors disappear. They act as a filter, leaving behind colors in the
blue part of the spectrum.

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Near the equator, winds from

the east blow steadily all the

way around the earth. Early

sailors from Europe and Africa

used these winds and the

resulting currents to reach

America, allowing them to

establish colonies and trading

routes. They named these

reliable gusts the Trade Winds.

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Bathymetry is the study of the underwater depth and features of the ocean
floor, as well as rivers, streams, and lakes.

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Seamounts are volcanic mountains that arise from the ocean floor without
breaching the surface. They can stand alone or run in long chains. An eroded
seamount is called a guyot or tablemount.

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are responsible for some surface ocean currents. Depending on 24
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As swells travel away from distant storms, waves tend to travel together in
groups called sets. It’s often said there are 7 waves to a set, but most
commonly the number is somewhere from 12 to 16, with the largest waves
in the middle of the set.
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Sharks have a fearsome reputation as calculating, vengeful hunters with a
taste for humans, but lightning and lawnmowers are far more dangerous.

Fewer than a dozen of the more than 500 shark species pose any threat to us.
In a typical year, there are fewer than 90 shark attacks in the entire world,
few of which are fatal. Meanwhile, more than 100 million sharks are killed
each year by humans.

The oldest shark relatives first appeared nearly half a billion years ago, well
before any vertebrate land animals. Sharks as we know them have been
around for about 100 million years. As a frame of reference, modern humans
are only about 200,000 years old.

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Large shark up to 19 feet long and 3500

pounds. Preys on sea lions, seals, and small whales.

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Prefers shallow, warm water and mangrove areas, where it feeds on fish,
crabs, rays, and sea birds.

The fastest shark, reaching speeds of more than 40 miles per hour. Can jump
more than 20

feet out of the water.

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Unlike other

species of

jellyfish that only

eat plankton, sea

nettles prey on

minnows, worms,

and mosquito

larvae by stinging

them with their

powerful venom.

One Mediterranean species of jelly,

the immortal Turritopsis dohrnii,

can return to its immature stage

again and again after reproducing,

meaning it may be able to live

forever!

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These six species are commonly called whales or blackfish, but genetically
they are dolphins.

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Seaweed plays a

critical ecological

role. It provides

food and habitat

for thousands of

species. In cold

waters, many

species of fish use

kelp forests to

breed and provide

protection for

their young.

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Kelp can grow more than a

foot each day, providing plenty

of food for its most notorious

grazer, the red sea urchin.

Ever-creative sea otters anchor

their babies with kelp blades

while they dive for red urchins.

Sea bass, crabs, jellyfish, rockfish, and even gray whales thrive in

the safety of the kelp forest.

Cormorants, gulls, terns, and

egrets help themselves to the

bounty of prey.

The richness of life in a kelp

forest also draws predators like

sharks, seals, and sea lions who

hide in the dense kelp while they

hunt.

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These members of the auk family are

poor fliers and walkers, but master

swimmers. They propel themselves

with their wings, appearing to fly

underwater. Some species dive to

depths of 300 feet to hunt fish

and krill.

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There are three kinds of reefs: fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls 142
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There are more than 2,000 different species of coral. About half are stony
corals that have hard calcium skeletons, and half are soft corals.

146
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The 3,000 species of nudibranchs

(pronounced new-dih-branks) exhibit a dizzying array of fluorescent colors

and fantastical shapes. They live on

the seafloor from Antarctica to the

tropics, with the greatest numbers in the shallow tropical waters of coral

reefs. These sea slugs are relatives of snails and possess a scraping
mouthpart, called a radula, that is studded with rasping teeth for scraping off
bits of food. Nudibranchs feed on sponges,

jellyfish, corals, anemones, and even other nudibranchs. They find their

prey using smell- and taste-sensitive, retractable tentacles called rhinospores

on top of their heads.

Nudibranchs do not have shells and

so must protect themselves in other

ways. The species that feed on

stinging jellyfish acquire the jellyfish’s nematocysts, or stinging cells, and

accumulate them in their surface

horns, or cerata. Similarly, some species just eat poisonous algae or sponges,

acquiring the toxins and storing them in specialized glands for their own

protection.

Individuals are sexually hermaphroditic, meaning they have the sexual

organs

of both sexes, so any two mature

nudibranchs of the same species can

mate with each other.

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needs bleed black lines
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Male hooded seals inflate

their nasal membranes

through one nostril, creating

a bright red sac that

attracts females and warns

off other males.

To conserve swimming energy,

seals leap out of the water

between strokes and even

surf on waves back to shore.

Some have specialized blood,

lungs, hearts, and veins that

allow them to dive several

thousand feet beneath the

surface.

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Pregnant female polar

bears build dens in the

snow and ice. They stay

in these dens and may

not eat for the first

few months while nursing

their cubs. The cubs,

usually a pair, stay with

their mother for about

21/2 years.

178
As human-caused climate change warms the Arctic and melts sea ice, polar
bears are struggling to feed themselves. With the shrinking ice, polar bears
aren’t able to hunt enough seals to meet their high nutritional needs. Adult
bears are smaller and less healthy than in the past. In some populations,
mothers can’t store enough body fat to feed and raise their cubs in the den.
Survival rates for cubs are dropping, adult polar bears are less capable of
surviving the ice-free summer, and the health of the whole population is at
risk.

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cargo ships

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E

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438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea, Jonathan

Franklin Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity of
Birds, David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, and Irby J. Lovette Blue
Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or
Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better
at What You Do, Wallace J. Nichols

Encyclopedia of Fishes, John R. Paxton and William N. Eschmeyer Fishes:

A Guide to Their Diversity, Philip A. Hastings, Harold Jack Walker, Jr., and
Grantly R. Galland

Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl

The Log from the Sea of Cortez, John Steinbeck Marine Biology (Botany,
Zoology, Ecology and Evolution), Peter Castro and Michael Huber

Marine Biology for the Non-Biologist, Andrew Caine 204

Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator,
Jason M. Colby

Polar Bears: The Natural History of a Threatened Species, Ian Stirling Reef
Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral,
David Dobbs

The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson

Shackleton’s Boat Journey, Frank A. Worsley The Sibley Guide to Birds,

David Allen Sibley The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Elizabeth
Kolbert Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of
Dolphins, Susan Casey

Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin

205

Selected Resources and Bibliography Consultant: Dorota Szuta, former field

biologist, Coastal Conservation and Research, Santa Cruz, CA; currently
water biologist, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened

Species (www.iucnredlist.org/)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (www.noaa.gov) Allaby,

Michael, ed. A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 4th ed. Oxford University
Press, 2013.

---. A Dictionary of Ecology. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Dobbs, David. Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the
Meaning of Coral. Pantheon, 2005.

Ford, John. Marine Mammals of British Columbia. Vol. 6. Royal British

Columbia Museum, 2014.

Gabriele, C. M., J. M. Straley, and R. J. Coleman. “Fastest Documented

Migration of a North Pacific Humpback Whale.” Marine Mammal Science
12, no. 3 (1996): 457-64.

HuNeke, Heiko, and Thierry Mulder, eds. “Deep-Sea Sediments.”

Developments in Sedimentology 63:1-849.

Mather, J. A., and M. J. Kuba. “The Cephalopod Specialties: Complex

Nervous System, Learning and Cognition.” Canadian Journal of Zoology 91,
no. 6 (2013): 431-49.

Rothwell, R.G. “Deep Ocean Pelagic Oozes.” Encyclopedia of Geology.

Edited by Richard Selley, Leonard Morrison Cocks, and Ian Plimer. Vol. 5.
Elsevier, 2005.

Ruppert, Edward E., Richard S. Fox, and Robert D. Barnes. Invertebrate

Zoology: A Functional Evolutionary Approach. 7th ed. Cengage Learning,
2003.

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