Resources About our Marine Wildlife
Here are some books, web sites and other resources that you can use to learn more about the amazing coastal marine wildlife that share our New England shorelines.
The following areas are covered:
Animals
Basking Sharks and General Shark Information
Ocean Sunfish
Plankton
River Herring
Seabirds
Seals
Seashells - Molluscs
Sea Turtles
Whales
Education
Conservation and Environmental Organizations
General Education Material
Agencies and Organizations
International Regulatory Agencies
US Government Organizations
Wildlife Viewing
BASKING SHARKS AND GENERAL SHARK INFORMATION
Books for Young Readers
- Basking Sharks, Sharks Set II
by Adam G. Klein
ABDO Publishing Company 2006 - Do Sharks Ever?
by Nathalie Ward
Down East Books 1999 - Sea Creatures, My First Pocket Guide
National Geographic Society 1996 - Sharks: Menacing or Misunderstood
by Heather Dakota
Scholastic 2007 - Sharks, Our Wild World Series
by Laura Evert
NorthWood 2001 - Shark Attack Almanac Kidbacks
by Beth Pickett Appropriate for grades 4 – 7
Books for Adults
- The Shark Almanac
by Thomas B. Allen
The Lyons Press 2003, 274 pp. - Sharks
by John D. Stevens
Checkmark Books 1999, 240 pp. - Sharks: History and Biology of the Lords of the Sea by Angelo Mojetta
Thunderbay Press 1997, 168 pp.
Papers for Adults
- Sims, David W., Emily J. Southall, Victoria A. Quayle and Adrian M. Fox 2000
Annual social behaviour of basking sharks associated with coastal front areas Proc. R. Soc. London B. 267:1897-1980 - Skomal, Gregory B., Grayson Wood and Nick Caloyianis 2004
Archival tagging of a basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, in the western North Atlantic J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. 84, 795-799
Field Guides
- A Field Guide to North Atlantic Wildlife
Marine Mammals, Seabirds, Fish and Other Sea Life
by Noble W. Proctor and Patrick J. Lynch
Yale University 2005
Web sites Links
- Basking Shark Project
- Canadian Museum of Nature
- All about sharks - Enchanted Learning
- Basking Shark - Florida Museum of Natural History
- NEBShark - New England Basking Shark Project
- Ecocean - Whale Sharks
- Animal Planet video of basking sharks
- International Fund for Animal Welfare
- Basking Shark - Wikipedia
Ocean Sunfish
General Information
- Swimming Heads
by Tierney Thys
Natural History, August 1994, pp. 36-38 - Queerest Fish in the Sea? The Massive Mola
by John L. Eliot
National Geographic, December 1994
Papers
- Diel movement patterns of ocean sunfish Mola mola off southern California
by Daniel P. Cartamil, DP, Christopher G. Lowe
Marine Ecology Progress Series [Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.]
Vol. 266, pp. 245-253, 30 Jan. 2004
The paper is available here as a pdf.
Reference Books and Field Guides
- Field Book of Giant Fishes
by Norman J. R. and F. C. Fraser,
G. P. Putnam and Sons, New York, NY 1949 - Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine
Edited by Brice B. Collette and Grace K. MacPhee
Third Ed. Smithsonian Institution, 2002
Web sites Links
- Australian Museum Fish Site
- FishBase
- Monterey Aquarium Online Field Guide
- National Geographic Animals - Mola, the Sunfish
- The Ocean Sunfish
- Mike Johnson Natural History Photography
- Phillip Colla Photography
- Ocean Sunfish - Wikipedia
Plankton
Books for Adults
- A Guide to Marine Coastal Plankton and Marine Invertebrate Larvae
by Deboyd L. Smith, Kevin B. Johnson Kendall
Hunt Publishing Company 1996 - Coastal Marine Zooplankton. A Practical Manual for Students by Christopher D. Todd, M.S. Laverack and Geoff Boxshall Second Ed.
- Methods in Marine Zooplankton Ecology
by Makoto Omori and Tsutomu Ikeda
Willey, New York 1984 - Zooplankton of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts: A Guide to Their Identification and Ecology
by William S. Johnson, Dennis M. Allen and Marni Fylling - Zooplankton Methodology Manual
edited by Roger P. Harris, Peter H. Wiebe, Jurgen Lenz, Hein-Rune Skjoldal and Mark Huntley.
Field Guides
Educational Resources
River Herring
Articles and Online Articles
- Mechanisms for Migration of Anadromous Herring:
An Ecological Basis for Effective Conservation
Ecological Applications: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 521–534 - Restoring Herring Populations on the Mattapoisett & Weweantic Rivers
- Herring Biology 101
Online Field Guides
- Fishes of the Gulf of Maine - Online Ed.
by Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder
Fishery Bulletin 74, Volume 53, WHOI
Seabirds
Books
- Birds in Massachusetts: Where and When to Find Them
by Bailey, Wallace
The College Press South Lancaster 1955 - Birding Nantucket
by Blackshaw, Kenneth T.and Andrews, Edith F.
Nantucket 1999 - Birding Cape Cod
by Flock, Gretchen and Hecker, Ann P., editors
Massachusetts Audubon Society Wellfleet 1994 - Birds of Massachusetts
by Petersen, Wayne R.; Veit, Richard R.
Massachusetts Audubon Society 1993 - Seabirds, an identification guide
by Peter Harrison
Houghton Mifflin Company 1983, 448 pp. - Bird Finding in New England
by Walton, Richard K. and David R.
Godine Publishing, Inc. Boston 1988 - Seabirds, a natural history
by Gaston, Tony
Gardners Books 2004
Articles
- Seabirds of Andrew’s Point, Rockport, Massachusetts
by Heil, Richard S.
Bird Observer Vol. 29, No. 5, 2001
Web sites Links
- The Continental Shelf-Edge An Oceanographic Primer for Pelagic Birders
by Gooley, Mike New England Seabirds web site 2002 - New England Seabirds
- Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
- Goldenrod Foundation
- SEANet
SEALS
Books for Young Readers
- Baby Animals, Seals
by Kate Petty
Gloucester Press, New York 1990 - A First Look at Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses
by Millicent E. Selsam and Joyce Hunt
Walker and Company, New York 1988 - A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up Baby Animals
by Joan Hewett, Author and Richard Hewett, Illustrator
Paperback, Carolrhoda Books 2002 - A Gray seal Pup Grows Up Baby Animals
by Joan Hewett, Author and Richard Hewett, Illustrator
Paperback, Carolrhoda Books 2002 - Animal Close-ups - The Seal, Furry Swimmer by Joelle Soler
Watertown, Massachusetts, Charlesbirdge 1990 - Seals Our Wild World
by Wayne Lynch, John F. McGee
2002 - The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses
by Marianne Riedman
University of California Press 1990 - ZooBooks 2: Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses
by John Bonnett Wexo
San Diego: Wildlife Education, Ltd., 1985
Online Articles
- Seals of the Gulf of Maine Sentinels
Gulf of Maine Times Summer 2002 Vol. 6, No. 2 - Grey seal - eastern Atlantic population
ARKive
Field Guides
- A Field Guide to the Whales, Porpoises and Seals of the Gulf of Maine and Eastern Canada: Cape Cod to Newfoundland
by Steven K. Katona, David T. Richardson, Valerie Rough
Smithsonian Institution Press 1977 - Seals of Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern United States
by Janice Hannah, Illustrations by Pieter Folkens
International Marine Mammal Association Incorporated 1998, 2000
Web sites Links
- Seals - National Marine Mammal Laboratory
- Common Seal
- ARKive seals
- Marine Mammal Center
- Seal Conservation
- IFAW
Seashells - Molluscs
Books
- Seashells of North America: A Guide to Field Identification
by R. Tucker Abbott
Golden Press, New York, 1968 - The American Museum of Natural History Guide to Shells
by William K. Emerson and Morris K. Jacobson
Alfred A.Knopf, New York, 1976 - Shells of the New York City Area
by Morris K. Jacobson and William K. Emerson
Argonaut Books, Inc., Larchmont, New York, 1961
reprinted by Dover Publications as Seashells From Cape Cod to Cape May - Seashells of Long Island, New York: A Guide to their Identfication and Local Status
by Long Island Shell Club
The Long Island Shell Club, Inc., New York, 1988 - A Field Guide to the Shells of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies - 3rd edition
by Percy Morris
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1973
the most inclusive and best edited edition of this work, now in its fifth edition
Web sites Links
Sea Turtles
Books
- Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation
by James R. Spotila
Johns Hopkins University Press 2004 - Sea Turtles: An Ecological Guide
by David Gulko and Karen Eckert
Mutual Pub Co. 2004 - Sea Turtle: So Excellent a Fish
by Archie Carr
University of Texas Press 1986 - The Biology of Sea Turtles Marine Science Series
by Peter L. Lutz and John A. Musick, Editors
CRC Press 1996 - Turtle Conservation
by Michael W. Klemens, Editor, Nat B. Frazer
Smithsonian Institution Press 2000
Web sites Links
Whales
Books for Young Readers
- The Whale’s Song by Dyan Sheldon
Red Fox Picture Books 1990 - Ibis—A True Whale Story by John Himmelman
Scholastic, Inc. 1990 - Discovering Whales of the East Coast by Stephen Mullane
Elan Publishing, Inc. 2004 - Fact Finder Whales by Dr. Anthony Martin
Crescent Books, New York 1990 - Humphrey, the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall
Heian Int’l. 1986 - Seasons of the Whales by Erich Hoyt
Chelsea Green Publishing Company 1990 - “Whales” Our Wild World Series by Patricia Corrigan
NorthWood Press 2001 - Whale and Dolphin Coloring Book by John Green
Dover Publications, Inc. NY. 1990 - “Whales” ZooBook Wildlife Education, Inc.
- Whales for Kids by Tom Wolpert
Wildlife for Kids Series, NorthWord Press 2000 - Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine
Eyewitness Books, Dorling Kindersley, London 1995 - Whales, Dolphins and Sharks Stickers and Seals by Lisa Bonforte
Dover Publications 1988
Books for Adults
- The World’s Whales by Ken Balcomb and S. Minasian
Smithsonian Books, W. W. Norton, New York, 1984 - Seasons of the Whales by Erich Hoyt
Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1990 - Wings in the Sea, the Humpback Whale by Lois King Winn and Howard E. Winn
University Press of New England, Hanover, NH. 1985 - Porpoises
by Andrew Read
World Life Library 1999, 72 pp.
Audio Recordings
- Whale-listening listen to sample tracks or purchase humpback sounds recorded off the Caribbean Island of Tortola by Paul Knapp
CDs include “Rapture of the Deep” and “One and mostly one humpback whale.”
Field Guides
- A Field Guide to the Whales, Porpoises and Seals of the Gulf of Maine and Eastern Canada: Cape Cod to Newfoundland
by Steven K. Katona, David T. Richardson, Valerie Rough
Smithsonian Institution Press 1977 - A Field Guide to North Atlantic Wildlife
Marine Mammals, Seabirds, Fish and Other Sea Life
by Noble W. Proctor and Patrick J. Lynch
Yale University 2005 - The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins
by S.L. Leatherwood and R.R. Reeves
Sierra Club Books, San Francisco 1983 - Guide to Marine Mammals and Turtles of the U.S. Atlantic & Gulf
of Mexico
by Kate Wynne and Malia Schwartz, Illustrated by Garth Mix
Rhode Island Sea Grant 1999, 115 pp. - Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Eyewitness Handbooks
by Mark Carwardine, Illustrated by Martin Camm
DK Publishing Book 1995, 256 pp. - Stellwagen Bank:
A guide to the Whales, Sea Birds, and Marine Life of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
by Natalie Ward
Down East Books 1995, 232 pp.
Web sites Links
- American Cetacean Society
- Cetacean Society International
- Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic
- Finback Whale - Wikipedia
- All About Whales - Enchanted Learning
- Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies
- Whale Center of New England
- WhaleNet
- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Conservation and Environmental Organizations
- National Audubon Society
- Maine Audubon
- Massachusetts Audubon
- New Hampshire Audubon
- Audubon Society of Rhode Island
- Audubon Society of Rhode Island - Environmental Education Center
- Cape Cod Museum of Natural History
- The Environmental League of Massachusetts
- Gulf of Maine Council on the Environment
- The Human Society of the United States - HSUS
- Manoment Center for Conservation Sciences
- Natural Resource Defense Council
- Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
- NatureServe
- Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation
- Ocean Alliance
- Oceana
- The Ocean Conservancy
- Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
Nature Conservancy
- Nature Conservancy
- Nature Conservancy of Maine
- Nature Conservancy of Massachusetts
- Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire
- Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island
General Education Material
Educational Resources
- Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
Mass. Department of Education
Science and Technology/Engineering for all grade levels May 2001
Revised High School Standards for Science and Technology/Engineering, January 2006 - Educational Coloring Books
The Marine Biology Coloring Book, Second Edition
by Thomas M. Niesen
Harper Resource 2000 - Educational Books for Elementary and Middle School Level
Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Study at the Seashore
by Deborah A. Coulombe 1990 - Marine Biology
by Ellen Doris
Thames and Hudson, Inc. 1993 64 pp.
Please check for web sites under Conservation and Environmental Organizations, International Regulatory Agencies and US Government Organizations.
International Regulatory Agencies
- CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
- The International Whaling Commission
US Government Organizations
- Environmental Protection Agency
- NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- NOAA’s National Ocean Service
- NOAA Fisheries - National Marine Fisheries Service
- NOAA Fisheries - Office of Protected Resources
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- Mass Wildlife - Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife
- Mass Wildlife - Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program
Marine Wildlife Viewing
Maine
- Bar Harbor Whale Watching Tours, Bar Harbor
- Boothbay Whale Watch, Boothbay Harbor
- Cap’n Fish’s Whale Watch, Boothbay Harbor
- First Chance Whale Watch, Kennebunkport
- Wanderbird Cruises, Belfast
Massachusetts
- Boston Harbor Cruises Whale Watch, Boston
- Capt. Bill & Sons Whale Watch, Gloucester
- Captain Blair Perkins, Shearwater Excursions, Nantucket
- Capt. John Boats, Plymouth
- The Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch, Provincetown
- Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises, Barnstable
- New England Aquarium’s Whale Watch, Boston
- Newburyport Whale Watch, Newburyport
- Portuguese Princess Excursions, Provincetown
- Seven Seas Whale Watch, Gloucester
- Yankee Whale Watching, Gloucester
New Hampshire
- Granite State Whale watch, Rye Harbor
New Jersey
- Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, Cape May
New York
Canada
- Cabot Trail Whale Watching, Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia
- Capt. Riddle’s Whale Watch Cruises, Campobello Island, New Brunswick
- Sea Watch Tours, Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick
- Whales-n-Sails Adventure, Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick
