Suggestions to learn underwater life?

[Torontonian]

I'd like to learn about the underwater life, so I can have a better idea what I am seeing and enjoy diving more.

I've got the PADI AOW book which has a few pages on the different groups of fish. But a video would be much nicer. What would you suggest in videos (VHS or DVD), websites, etc.?
So that I can begin to learn before the upcoming trip to Hawaii.

Thanks.

 

[Damselfish]

There's lots of fish ID books out there but I'm not sure which is best for Hawaii. The Paul Humann books are good for the Carribean.

www.reef.org has some stuff you can look at.

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

There's lots of fish ID books out there but I'm not sure which is best for Hawaii. The Paul Humann books are good for the Carribean.

www.reef.org has some stuff you can look at.

Paul Hoovers books are specific to Hawaii and are great!
"Hawaii's Sea Creatures: A Guide to Hawaii's Marine Invertebrates" and
"Hawaii's Fishes: A Guide for Snorklers and Aquarists"

We use these extensively in the Marine Life portion of our briefing.

 

[kidspot]

I'd second the Hoover book "Hawaii's Fishes" also - I have several fish ID books from real basic to scientific classifications... and his are the most user friendly I've found -

I look for just one or two fish each dive that I do not recognize or know the name of, go home and look it up in Hoover's book. It's been great for learning new fish.

Aloha, Tim

 

[sharky60]

Yeah, purchasing an ID book is a great idea, because you can take it with you on vacation and after a day's dive go through it and ID what you saw that day.

They have region many spacific books, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean, Hawaii, ect. I have a small collection that I use all the time.

I have one for Hawaii simply nammed "Fishes of Hawaii", it's a small book in size maybe 5x7 but about 2" thick, really a good source and very packable.

Getting a book on Hawaiian island fish is good because 1/3 of all the fish in Hawaii are indigenous to Hawaiian waters and can't be found anywhere else in the world.

I don't know of any Video productions that are sealife ID oriented, but it's a great idea, maybe one of the tourist videogrophers on the islands will read this and put one out.

here's a link to Mike Severn's website http://www.mikesevernsdiving.com/
he's a dive operator on Maui and has actually ID'd and nammed fish. he has some pics on his 'marine life' link.

 

[Charlie99]

I'll second the Hoover's recommendation.

If you are also going to do much diving in Florida or the Carribbean, then you should go ahead and get the Paul Humann series too. When I was totally clueless about fish, the Humann books helped me get a handle on the basic body types and major groups. Hoover's is a good reference, but not as good a learning tool for those first baby steps where you are learning trunkfish vs. parrotfish vs jack, etc.

 

[rje634]

Last time we were in Hawaii we took the underwater naturalist specialty course with Lahaina divers. Great course we learned a lot above native Hawaiian species, the course however is highly dependant on how good the instructor is.

 

[Aqua Buoy]

If you're keen about learning of underwater life, a small slate to take notes underwater might also be useful.

An easy way to start is also to take an ID book specific to your region and head down to the shore and look for marine life (a lot of books will have intertidal marine life too) where the water meets the shore, go at low tide and see what you can find. That way you'll get a feel what to look for and what you can look up in the book. Although be careful what you do, stepping animals or kicking up rocks (which can ve very tempting) isn't helpful. Again, making notes can help.

Also try your local university they might have some good resources you can draw on if you want some specifics.

If you want more specific on marine biology, try a book called (surprise, surprise) Marine Biology: Function, Diversity, Ecology by Jeffrey S. Levinton - it'll cover a lot of ecology and nifty things you probably won't find in normal ID books, it is an introductory text so it's easy to understand and well illustrated.

good luck... post us some pictures if you get any

 

[justleesa]

I have both of John Hoovers books and they are both very good. If I find something that I can't find in the book I check Johns website and usually find it there

 

[Sideband]

My LDS sells a set of fish ID cards that you can take under with you. It's about as big as a deck of cards. I never really paid much attention to them so I don't know if there are different sets for different regions or whatever but I'd think it would be nice to be able to do the ID when you could see the fish, especially if you don't have a camera.

Joe