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

  • Marine Wildlife Viewing

Basking Sharks & 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

Website Links

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

Website Links

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

Online Field Guides

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

Website Links

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 Worldby 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 WexoSan Diego: Wildlife Education, Ltd., 1985

Online Articles

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

Website Links

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

Website 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

Website 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 1977A 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 1983Guide 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.

Website Links

Conservation & Environmental Organizations

Nature Conservancy

General Education Material

  • 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

US Government Organizations

Marine Wildlife Viewing

 Maine

 Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

Canada