Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)

                
              
Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
A comprehensive field guide for aquarists, divers and naturalists, with detailed full color photographs of hundreds of species, encompassing the majority of coral genera one is likely to encounter on reefs around the world, This book defines corals and distinguishes them form similar hydrozoans, zoanthids, and corallimorpharia. The corals are described and compared to similar looking species, and their range and the correct pronunciation of the Latin name is given. In addition, for aquarists who grow corals in reef aquariums, information is provided in quick reference charts concerning each coral's requirements for light, water movement, and food, hardiness in captivity, aggressiveness toward other corals, and proper positioning in the aquarium.
Series: Oceanographic Series
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Ricordea Publishing; 1 edition (September 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1883693098
ISBN-13: 978-1883693091
Product Dimensions:  9.8 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
Average Customer Review:  4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #301,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)   #107 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Oceans & Seas > Oceanography   #154 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Animals > Marine Life   #210 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems
This is a great quick reference guide for corals commonly found in the reef trade. I won't kid you, you will not find as much information here as you would in larger volumes such as The Reef Aquarium (TRA) Vol. 1 & 2. This is a handy book for getting quick stats such as lighting requirements, foods accepted, tank placement charts, aggressiveness, hardiness, and more. I bring the book with me every time I go coral shopping. With a book like this at your side you will always have all the facts BEFORE you make your coral purchase!
The perfect gift for that reef hobbist or scuba diver in your life. This book is full of great pictures of both hard and soft corals. It explains the best placement, lighting needs, and feeding needs. Perfect for identification.
An excellent book for every reef aquarists. It's about corals, not like many books out there where you can just read about pumps, skimmers, HQI lamps e all that budgets. Julian teaches us the most important informations we need: the diferences between the needs of each species of corals. This is what we need to know to provide the best possible for our animals.
This book has great pictures, with an excellent taxonomy of cnidarians, written by an author with both authority and experience in the subject. The book lacks, however, the basic and intermediate care descriptions that people would normally like for their corals. Best suited as an introduction to basic reef placement and coral identification. The lighting standards neglect to mention which corals are non-photosynthetic and which are photophobic, such as Nephthyigorgia.
This book is full of fantastic full-color pictures with which one can easily identify many of the corals commonly available. Also includes many rare corals.However, the text material about the corals, care etc. is extremely brief - much too brief. General care and lighting needs for a particulate coral species is given in the form of bar graphs and placement diagrams. This could theoretically be a helpful companion and summary of a more extensive text about the coral species being described. However, in this book, these diagrams are a *replacement* for the text. In and of themselves, the diagrams are inadequate to properly gauge the needs of the coral species.I was also disappointed that the book completely leaves out many commonly available corals (for example the corallimorphs ("Mushroom corals"), which are common beginners corals). Leaving these corals out while including many rare species which the average hobbyist will never see seems to dilute the usefulness of the book.I would recommend instead Borneman's "Aquarium Corals" (which I have and refer to constantly), and/or perhaps Sprung and Delbeek's more extensive 3-volume "The Reef Aquarium" (which has received good reviews, but I don't own (yet)).
The pictures throughout this book are fantastic. They are beautiful, clear and even illustrate the different appearances possible within the same type of coral. Sadly, though, the book is full of grammatical errors and awkward writing. One gets the sense the author was trying to write above his level with the help of a giant thesaurus and an overactive comma key. It is so bad, I found myself doubting the accuracy of the information. Hopefully, future editions of what should be a top-notch book will be more closely edited.
Sure, it would also have been possible to include all the thousands of corals known worldwide in this book, instead of restricting to those held in aquaria. But then you wouldn't succeeed in bringing the book with you to the aquarium retailer in order to identify corals in the dealer's tank before you buy. With this book that works...
I'm new to the hobby (less than 1 year) and saw this book at the local fish store upon one of my first visits to the store. The price tag scared me away... Then one day I was surfing around  and remembered the book! I bought this in conjunction with The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Another pricey reference book, but the "fish" version to Sprung's "Corals."Sprung's book is a thorough reference guide of all coral enthusiasts. There are tons of colorful photographs, and you can tell there was a lot of effort put into classifying the different corals and their origins. I do have a few minor complaints, though. First, the title is Corals "A Quick Reference Guide," and I wouldn't really call it a "quick" reference guide. The book is basically broken into two "huge" chapters: Hard Corals and Soft Corals. Pretty broad... Second, the corals are listed according to their scientific name. That is awesome, but I have a hard time remembering the "common" names for the corals I see at the local fish store... So, quick turns into flipping page by page until I see the picture of the coral I want/am interested in. It hasn't failed me yet.Beyond the colorful pictures and knowing the scientific name of the coral, there is a chart that shows thou where you should place the coral in the tank (very helpful). It includes other relevant information, including a brief description. When I say brief, I mean BRIEF. You'll be hitting the interwebs looking for more information, once you've found what you're looking for in the book.The "Aggressiveness" gauge on the charts seem poorly calibrated. The explanation is very vague... It doesn't hold water, in my eyes. Also, the book doesn't mention feeding information, which is really important, in my opinion.It's a nice "coffee table" book, but not a good reference material for a serious reef tank hobbyist...
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