John Ó'Ríordáns Blog

I was looking for some good books on Marine Wildlife in Ireland and a Scuba Diving Club member recommended the following. I thought I’d post it hear for anyone who is interested.

There are a number of posters and books out on marine mammals but one of the best around is called ”A Guide to the Identification of the Whales and Dolphin of Ireland” by Jim Wilson and Simon Berrow. Jim’s drawings are excellent and very informative. It’s spiral bound with a blue cover and if I remember correctly the book was only about €12/€15. It’s a relatively new book, only a year or two old, so there should be lots of copies around.

If you want fish i.e. guides then you are probably looking at ”Great British Marine Animals” by Paul Naylor. It’s not very in-dept with the text or descriptions but the photos are excellent – especially for a beginner wondering what he/she just saw. A good reference to have in the car to put an end to the after dive arguments about who saw what and where.

A more detailed book would be ”Mediterranean and Atlantic Fish Guide” by Helmut Debelius which has a nice balance of photos and text – it’s dearer than Naylor’s and not quite as quick to use. There’s a whole series of Debelius guides for different parts of the world and all are good.

A more scientific book would be ”Marine Fish & Invertebrates of Northern Europe” by Moen/Svensen but a lot of the fish in this are Scandinavian and the photos aren’t always the very best.

And sorry about the links being to the German Amazon but it’s nice to see the price in real money :)