United States
£ GBP
Nudibranchs, or sea slugs, are a group of marine gastropod molluscs whose adults lack shells, an evolutionary loss that has led to a wide variety of body shapes, colours and colour patterns, making them popular with divers and underwater photographers. In this book, experienced nudibranch experts Bernard Picton and Christine Morrow provide an accessible and authoritative photographic identification guide for anyone interested in finding and identifying nudibranchs in the coastal waters of Britain, Ireland and Northwest Europe.
- Covers 200 species, each on its own two-page spread
- Includes in situ photos to aid finding nudibranchs under water and on the shore
- Features photos of nudibranchs’ distinctive spawn coils and studio photos showing detailed anatomy
- Presents key distinguishing features and essential information on size, habitat, diet and distribution
Bernard Picton is curator of marine invertebrates in the Natural Sciences Department at the National Museums Northern Ireland. He is the author of a number of books, including Sea Squirts and Sponges of Britain and Ireland (Princeton). Christine Morrow is a researcher at Queen’s University, Belfast. She studies nudibranchs and a variety of other marine invertebrates in addition to her main expertise, the taxonomy and systematics of sponges.
"[...] Despite this popularity, books on nudibranchs of our region are few and far between, the last one being published in 1994 by the authors of this current guide. In what is essentially a revised and expanded version, this book brings us up to date with the numerous changes in taxonomy and distribution recorded in the time since then and expands its geographical scope to cover the area from north-western France to Norway. This is very much a field guide rather than an ecological monograph, the vast majority of space given to species accounts [...] Anyone who spends time on the shore or underwater will want this guide, to help them identify and understand the nudibranchs they do encounter but also to fuel daydreams of what could be found on the next foray into the marine world. Even if you seldom spend time on the coast, however, I guarantee you will enjoy this book simply as a showcase of the beauty and diversity of these miniature marvels."
– Guy Freeman, British Wildlife 36(2), November 2024
