Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime

There’s a new book coming out called Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime by Ellen Prager (bio here). It’s a collection of some of my favorite things: unusual quirks of marine species and beautiful photography, so I thought I’d post it up here.

According to a Wired magazine interview, Prager scoured the scientific literature, and her colleagues’ brains, to gather an impressive collection of amazing images and little-known facts about marine animals and why they matter.   This includes regenerating conch penises and self-amputating octopuses.

Some of my favorites stories told back in my divemaster days were those about the strange quirks of our reef creatures.  The parrot fish that cocoons himself in mucus at night.  The yellow headed jawfish that carries its unhatched young in its mouth.  The spotted drum fish that will rest by swimming in a figure-8 pattern on auto-pilot during the day.  It were these fascinating stories that drew me into the watery world.

Check out Prager’s photo gallery on Wired.com for some more good stuff.