Marine Life in India Book

Foreword ix

Preface xi

1 Introduction 1

2 The Living Soup-Pastures of the Sea 6

3 Forests in the Sea 10

4 The Living Bridge 18

5 The Tree That Makes Land 23

6 The Itsy-bitsy, Teeny-weeny Drifters of the Sea 27

7 Miniature Sea-shells 31

8 The Living Sieve 34

9 On the Rocks-but not whisky 40

10 The Living Jellies 44

11 Borne on the Purple Wind 49

12 Flower Power 54

13 Deep-sea Corals 62

14 A Miscellany of Home-use Items 64

15 Psst! It's time someone noticed us too 67

16 "Worms" that are not worms 75

17 Legs-Fuzzy-wuzzy Creepy Crawlies of the Sea 80

18 The Motley Crowd 85

19 The Birds and the B's 94

20 Salty Knight in Armour 100

21 Pinocchios of the Sea 106

22 Home is where the Heart is 109

23 Give a dog an ill name-and hang him 113

24 Masquerade (when a crab is not a crab) 117

25 The Bottom Gang 121

26 The Sidewalk Specialists 126

27 Beach Buddies 130

28 Gladiators of the Sea 135

29 Oddest Ancient Oaf Alive 138

30 The bug that walks on water 144

31 Double-shelled Snails 146

32 Drillers in the Sea 153

33 Taj Mahals in the Sea 157

34 Silk in the Sea 162

35 Backpackers of the Sea 164

36 Stingers on the Shore 175

37 Purple Pomp 178

38 Gilding the Lily 181

39 Butterflies of the Sea-"Flying Snails" 184

40 Quaint Rabbits of the Sea 187

41 The Bold and the Beautiful 190

42 Beauty and the Beast 193

43 Octopus-Odious or Ostracised? 197

44 Sleek and Savage 201

45 The Mathematical Prodigy 207

46 Stars in the Sea 214

47 Rough Stuff-Pin-cushions in the Sea 221

48 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 225

49 Footprints on the Sands 229

50 Our Forefathers 234

51 Monarchs of the Aquatic Realm 241

52 Body Talk246

53 Kites in the Sea (and their kin) 250

54 The Misunderstood Moray 255

55 The Fish That Flies 258

56 Women's Lib in the Water 261

57 The Leopard That Changes Its Spots 264

58 William Tells in the Water 266

59 Cinderellas of the Sea 268

60 Rainbows in the Sea 271

61 Painful Pricks (They Jab and They Stab) 276

62 Aquatic Olympics-Hop-skip-and-jump Champions of the Sea 284

63 Doctors at Sea 286

64 Hitch-hikers of the Sea 291

65 Poison in the Pot 294

66 Meet the Mighty Mola 297

67 The Compleat Angler 300

68 Have your cake, and eat it too 303

69 The Gentle Giants 306

70 Born to Kill 311

71 The Gray Ghosts 316

72 The ... that lays the Golden Egg 324

73 Neither Fish nor Fowl (the adorable, intelligent dolphins) 326

74 Mermaids with Moustaches 333

Acknowledgements 338

Further Reading 340

Glossary 342

Appendix 345

Index 347