Sensuous Seas: Tales of a Marine Biologist

Learning marine biology from a textbook is one thing. But take readers to the bottom of the sea in a submarine to discover living fossils or to coral reefs to observe a day in the life of an octopus, and the sea and its splendors come into focus, in brilliant colors and with immediacy.

In Sensuous Seas, Eugene Kaplan offers readers an irresistibly irreverent voyage to the world of sea creatures, with a look at their habitats, their beauty and, yes, even their sex lives. A marine biologist who has built fish farms in Africa and established a marine laboratory in Jamaica, Kaplan takes us to oceans across the world to experience the lives of their inhabitants, from the horribly grotesque to the exquisitely beautiful. In chapters with titles such as Fiddler on the Root (reproductive rituals of fiddler crabs) and Size Does Count (why barnacles have the largest penis, comparatively, in the animal kingdom), Kaplan ventures inside coral reefs to study mating parrotfish; dives 740 feet in a submarine to find living fossils; explains what results from swallowing a piece of living octopus tentacle; and describes a shark attack on a friend.

The book is a sensuous blend of sparkling prose and 150 beautiful illustrations that clarify the science. Each chapter opens with an exciting personal anecdote that leads into the scientific exploration of a distinct inhabitant of the sea world: allowing the reader to experience firsthand the incredible complexity of sea life.

A one-of-a-kind memoir that unfolds in remarkable reaches of ocean few of us can ever visit for ourselves, Sensuous Seas brings the underwater world back to living room and classroom alike. Readers will be surprised athow much marine biology they have learned while being amused.

"The feeding and mating habits of some of the ocean's strangest creatures are the subject of these 31 entertaining essays by Hofstra ecologist Kaplan. He introduces each chapter with a story dramatizing the factual information — such as the tale of his painful encounter with the tentacles of a Portuguese man o' war — but the inducement is unnecessary, as the biology is fascinating in its own right. His man o' war, for example, is a jellyfish that has '[n]o brain, no blood, no heart, no anus,' yet is able to paralyze its prey with 'poison arrows.' The other creatures he describes are equally bizarre. They include barnacles that live in the bodies of crabs, eating all the hosts' internal organs except those necessary to keep the crabs alive; sinister fish in the Amazon basin that can enter a human body through the genitals and tear up the person's innards; sea anemones and clownfish that live in a symbiotic relationship in which the fish feed the anemones and are in return protected by the anemones' tentacles. Kaplan's lively essays, accompanied by 150 exquisite line drawings, are a wonderful introduction to the mysteries of the ocean. (Aug.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Kaplan creates a feel for the teeming sea and rouses a sense of wonder in his readers". Lynn Harnett, The Portsmouth Herald

"Kaplan's writing is vivid, his stories both amusing and riveting. He answers questions like: Do sharks think? Is an octopus as smart as a dog?" Sandy Bauers, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Kaplan actually does the things that many others will ultimately have left on their 'to do' lists. He chases octopuses with his students, dives to the edge of the abyss in a research submarine, and eats things most travelers would never consider. He is part Indiana Jones, part Richard Feynman, and part Woody Allen." Paul Billeter, College of Southern Maryland

"Highly entertaining. This book really is a celebration of biodiversity." John Kricher, Wheaton College

Eugene H. Kaplan is Axinn Distinguished Professor of Conservation and Ecology at Hofstra University. A recipient of the Herman Melville award for writing on marine subjects, he is the author of nine books, including "Problem Solving in Biology" and two Peterson Field Guides, one on coral reefs of the Caribbean and the other on seashores of the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean.

Preface: What Is a Marine Biologist? vii

Acknowledgments ix

Apologia xi

Prologue: The Perils of Teaching 1

Chapter 1. Deadly Darts 3

Chapter 2. The Great Jade Green Octopus Hunt 9

Chapter 3. Bedtime Stories 20

Chapter 4. Garden of Eden: The Death Apple and the Tree of Life 29

Chapter 5. A True Romance Story 36

Chapter 6. Elixir of Love 46

Chapter 7. Skinny South Sea Sausages 52

Chapter 8. The Only Male Reproductive Organ with a Name 59

Chapter 9. Living Lance 66

Chapter 10. Role Reversal 74

Chapter 11. Super Male 83

Chapter 12. Miracle Fish 89

Chapter 13. Fugu 99

Chapter 14. Bunnies of the Sea 107

Chapter 15. Passion for Purple 116

Chapter 16. Size Does Count 122

Chapter 17. Fiddler on the Root 131

Chapter 18. Beware the Duppy 138

Chapter 19. The Secret of an Improved Sex Life 145

Chapter 20. How to Court a Female 152

Chapter 21. The Anti-BLB Club 159

Chapter 22. Sea Pussy 166

Chapter 23. Debunking the Big Lie 176

Chapter 24. A Peek into the Anus of a Sea Cucumber 183

Chapter 25. The Yellow Submarine 190

Chapter 26. The Perils of Vanity 200

Chapter 27. Sexually Repressed Victorian Taxonomists 206

Chapter 28. Random Ramblings on Relationships 214

Chapter 29. Penile Bloodletting 222

Chapter 30. Death and Confusion 232

Chapter 31. Eyeball to Eyeball 242

Epilogue 253

Glossary 257

Illustration Sources 264

Index 265