A student's guide to the seashore

This unique, concise and beautifully illustrated guide allows students to identify over 650 of the common, widespread animals and seaweeds of the shore. User-friendly dichotomous keys are supported by details of diagnostic features and biology of each species. Now enhanced with 32 pages of colour, this much-acclaimed guide is invaluable to students of marine biology at any level. Questions such as: How does the species reproduce? What is its life-cycle? How does it feed? are answered in the notes accompanying each species to give a fascinating insight into the diversity and complexity of life on the shore. The text is supported by an extensive glossary of scientific terms, and a comprehensive bibliography is included to aid further study. The third edition builds on the excellent reviews of earlier editions and will continue to appeal to a wide readership, including students, teachers and naturalists.

The authors have many years' experience of research and teaching in marine biology. Susan Fish is a Research Associate and John Fish the former Director of the Institute of Biological Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Aberystwyth University. They have published extensively on intertidal ecology, and the Student's Guide draws on this personal research and their substantial experience of leading field courses in marine biology for undergraduate and extramural students.

Third Edition

J. D. Fish and S. Fish

Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521720595

First edition © J. D. Fish and S. Fish 1989
Second edition © Cambridge University Press 1996
Third edition © J. D. Fish and S. Fish 2011

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published by Unwin Hyman 1989
Second edition published by Cambridge University Press 1996
Third edition 2011

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-0-521-72059-5 Paperback
Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/9780521720595

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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‘What branch of Natural History shall I begin to investigate, if it be but for a few weeks, this summer?’

To which I answer, Try ‘the Wonders of the Shore.’

There are along every sea-beach more strange things to be seen, and those to be seen easily, than in any other field of observation which you will find in these islands. And on the shore only will you have the enjoyment of finding new species, of adding your mite to the treasures of science.

Charles Kingsley

Glaucus, or The Wonders of the Shore

Macmillan and Co., 1890

(By kind permission of Macmillan Publishers Ltd)

Contents

Preface

The fusion of identification guide and biological text, the hallmark of A Student's Guide to the Seashore, has been widely acclaimed since the publication of the first edition in 1989 and over the past 20 years we have been greatly encouraged by the support and encouragement received from users of the Guide. It was therefore a pleasure to accept the invitation from Cambridge University Press to prepare a third edition.

The publication of a third edition has given us the opportunity to review the list of species included in the light of our field experience and that of colleagues. Additional species have been added, some of which are introduced species in the sense that they have now become established in Britain and north-west Europe, bringing the total coverage to over 650 species. At the same time, the biological information on individual species has been updated on the basis of the latest research and expanded wherever possible and this, together with the extended bibliography of primary sources of data, will encourage wider lines of enquiry and help those readers who wish to investigate further this fascinating habitat. One of the most significant changes since the publication of the earlier editions has been in taxonomy following the increased use of molecular techniques and there is no doubt that important advances in our understanding of taxonomic relationships will continue to be made through the application of molecular phylogeny. Taxonomy and systematics are at the heart of ecology and when considering changes in taxon names we have erred on the side of caution; where there is ongoing research and debate on the status of particular species and groups of species, we have drawn attention to this. Taxonomic change can be confusing to the reader and where changes in species names have been made we have included for ease of reference the widely used former names.

The design and layout of the book follows that of previous editions and is described in detail following the Introduction. The Illustrated Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Shore, which is designed to help those readers who are unable initially to assign an organism to its phylum or class, has been extensively reorganized and is now more user-friendly and easier to navigate. The inclusion of colour plates makes the identification of those organisms for which black and white drawings will always fail to convey key diagnostic features, that much easier and more reliable. We have also taken the opportunity to illustrate aspects of the biology of some species in colour.

As in previous editions, colleagues have been generous in giving guidance and advice. Dr Joanne Porter helped us unravel the bryozoan genus Alcyonidium; Dr Graham Oliver gave advice on aspects of bivalve taxonomy; Dr Robert Brownlow was a source of much helpful discussion; Mr Keith Wilson provided specimens of Eriocheir sinensis from the Thames estuary; and Mr Gareth Owen provided a steady supply of fresh specimens where additional drawings were needed. Ms Gwen Jenkins and Mr Anthony Pugh gave invaluable professional advice on all aspects of photo-imaging, and Ms Catherine Flack and Ms Joanna Enole II-Cooper, Cambridge University Press, guided us sympathetically through the final stages of preparation and design. We are also grateful to staff of the Hugh Owen Library, Aberystwyth University, the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth and the Natural History Museum, London. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to cite individually in the text all the references used and, once again, we wish to record our indebtedness to those whose research has contributed to the ‘wonders of the shore’ and made this edition possible.

J. D. Fish

Susan Fish