One of the most interesting developments in what might be called ‘polar publishing’ has been the recent emergence onto the scene of Paulsen of Moscow. This publishing house has a list, mostly in Russian but some in English, that has many items of interest to readers of Polar Record, and the current volume is certainly one of those. It is a combination of ‘coffee table’ book, setting out wonderful photographs in this case of submarine wildlife in the Arctic, with a very informative and detailed text. This is rare; in such cases one is usually confronted by photographs with a short and fairly trivial text, or a meaty volume with limited illustrations that seems to be intended for specialists. This book manages to be both.
The first chapter relates to plankton ranging from hydroids through the clinging jellyfish, larger jellyfish and ctenophores to the elusive appendicularians. There are some simply magnificent portrayals of these life forms and the colour reproductions are superb. Of particular interest is the section on Aequorea, the bioluminescent jellyfish that shimmer with a bright blueish-green light. It is noted that these colours arise from various proteins and that work on them resulted in the award of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The pictures of the mobile organisms are extremely good and must have been very difficult to obtain. From that point of view this is probably the most inspiring section of the book.
The next section is entitled Life – attached with the note that ‘every boulder is home to thousands of organisms’. The author points out that sometimes researchers have to ‘go through’ several ‘floors’ of organisms to reach the substrate and that therefore many submarine dives might be needed to ‘film and collect material from one single boulder’. Groups featured in this chapter include the hydrozoan ployps and it is noted that some of these ‘can leave serious burns on the human skin’ and therefore it is wise ‘to keep your wits about you’ when descending. Tubularians and the tiny Acaulis are photographed, as is Actinia, a group of sedentary cnidarians, stalked jellyfish, soft corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, sponges, sedentary polychaetes and, of course, crustaceans.
The final chapter in the book is entitled Wanderers. It includes chitons and nudibranchs but possibly the most stunning section of the book relates to the cephalopods that are liberally illustrated. This section stresses the diverse nature of the group and some of the photographs of the varieties of octopus are masterpieces. The chapter also includes the echinoderms, polychaetes and mobile crustaceans.
The texts concerning the various animals featured are informative, for specialists and non-specialists alike, are clearly written in excellent English and are easy to read. The photographs throughout are simply superb.
Warmly recommended for all with polar interests, whether one reads every word or simply flips through admiring the photographs. The price is very reasonable for a volume of this quality.
