OffShore Graphics, Inc. titles: Waterways & Byways of the Indian River Lagoon - a field guide for boaters, anglers and naturalists; South Pacific Reef Plants and Caribbean Reef Plants. "User-friendly" field guides to coral reef plants (algae and seagrasses) for divers, photographers, aquarists, and marine scientists.

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#6666CC" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#333399" TEXT="#000000">    <table WIDTH="600" align="center" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="1"> <tr> <td> <p><FONT COLOR="Blue"> <div align="center">Non Frame Version - - - - Non Frame Version<br> Frame Version = <a href="http://www.offshoregraphics.biz/"> http://www.offshoregraphics.biz/ </a></div> </FONT></p> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <TABLE align="center" BORDER="0" WIDTH="570" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0"> <TR> <TD valign="top" align="left"><IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="2" HEIGHT="1"> <FONT FACE="verdana, geneva, arial, helvetica, sans serif, sanserif" SIZE="4"> <br> Richly illustrated identification field guides from OffShore Graphics: 1) Waterways & Byways of the Indian River Lagoon - a field guide for boaters, anglers and naturalists; 2) South Pacific Reef Plants and 3) Caribbean Reef Plants. 'User-friendly' field guides to coral reef plants (algae and seagrasses) for divers, photographers, aquarists, and marine scientists. <br> </td> </tr> </table> <br><br><br> <TABLE align="center" BORDER="0" WIDTH="570" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0"> <TR> <TD valign="top" align="left"> <br> <img src="images/Cov-PRP.jpg" ALT="South Pacific Reef Plants" WIDTH="203" HEIGHT="300" BORDER="0"> </td> <TD width=25><IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="20" HEIGHT="1"></TD> <TD valign="middle" align="left"><FONT FACE="verdana, geneva, arial, helvetica, sans serif, sanserif" SIZE="2"> <h1>South Pacific Reef Plants:</h1> This Divers’ Guide to the Plant Life of South Pacific Coral Reefs is a “user-friendly” introduction to approximately 370 marine plants (algae and seagrasses) of the region. The book is richly illustrated with over 440 underwater photographs. South Pacific Reef Plants allows both the sport diving community and professional marine scientists to easily become familiar with these often overlooked coral reef primary producers. These amazingly diverse plants are among the most photogenic and spectacularly colorful of coral-reef organisms. Specialized terminology has been kept to a minimum to facilitate use by naturalists and scientists in other disciplines. More than 30 side-bars across from the keys and facing pages depict interesting reef “phenomena” in the hope of further stimulating both ecological and taxonomic interest in the study of Pacific coral reefs. <br><br> <div align="center"><a href="RP-Order.htm" ><b>Ordering Information:</b></a></div> <br><br><br> </td> </tr> </table> <br><br> <TABLE align="center" BORDER="0" WIDTH="570" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0"> <TR> <TD valign="top" align="left"> <br> <img src="images/Cover-pg.jpg" ALT="Caribbean Reef Plants" WIDTH="203" HEIGHT="300"><br> <IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="500"><br> <img src="images/Cover-pg.jpg" ALT="Caribbean Reef Plants" WIDTH="203" HEIGHT="300"><br> <IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="450"><br> <img src="images/Cover-pg.jpg" ALT="Caribbean Reef Plants" WIDTH="203" HEIGHT="300"> </td> <TD width=25><IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="20" HEIGHT="1"></TD> <TD valign="middle" align="left"><FONT FACE="verdana, geneva, arial, helvetica, sans serif, sanserif" SIZE="2"> <h1>Caribbean Reef Plants:</h1> An identification guide to approximately 565 marine algae and seagrasses of the Caribbean Region. The 542-page color text is richly illustrated with over 700 underwater photographs and 1,645 line drawings. More than 130 "ecological phenomena" are depicted. The treatment covers the entire Caribbean Region and will be indispensable for anyone interested in the study of coral reefs.<br> <p><strong>INTRODUCTION:</strong> The primary objective of this book is to make algal identification possible for ecologists, physiologists, chemists, geologists, coastal-zone managers or any other scientists, including both amateur and professional biologists. Our goal was to create a "user-friendly" identification guide to approximately 565 macrophytic marine plants of the Caribbean and adjacent waters, relying where possible on non-technical vegetative characteristics. Because of the rapid degradation of tropical reefs, it is imperative that they be studied from all aspects in a timely, efficient and scientifically verifiable manner. It is of paramount importance to characterize changes in the physical, chemical and living attributes of the coral reef environment and to understand the response of the biota to such changes. Marine plants from five diverse evolutionary lines dominate and, in conjunction with coelenterate corals, are the major primary producers and builders of all reef systems. Considering the critical role these organisms play in reef ecosystems, they must be taken into account in other fields of marine sciences whether it be the study of fisheries resources, marine chemistry, ecology, geology or any of the associated biological disciplines. We know all too little of the plant species on tropical reefs and how they interact with each other and with the abiotic and biotic components of their environment. Therefore, it is essential that marine scientists, regardless of discipline, have a usable means of accurately identifying the principal marine plants which form the basis of the food web and play major roles in building and maintaining living reef structures.</p> <strong>Keys:</strong> The main tools for identifying unknown specimens (aside from the obvious, i.e., matching the illustration to the specimen) are the dichotomous keys, starting with the key leading to the major phyla or evolutionary groups. Differences at the levels of classes, orders and families are often based on reproductive stages that are rarely found or difficult to interpret. To make <i>Caribbean Reef Plants</i> as user-friendly as possible, we have constructed artificial keys based primarily on vegetative characters that are readily observed. For each phylum we have provided a key to the included genera. If a genus is represented by more than one species, a key to those species is given at the beginning of that generic section. When keys are lengthy, a double numbering system is utilized, with each number in parentheses (following the initial number) representing the entry that led to that selection. This double numbering system enables the user to work the key backwards as well as the standard method of keying forward.<br><br> <strong>Illustrations:</strong> <i>Caribbean Reef Plants</i> features underwater color photographs of each plant; where appropriate, a split color plate is presented showing the habit as well as anatomically important features (such as reproductive phases) that are better illustrated with a photograph than with a drawing. The photographs were selected to emphasize the characters that facilitate visual identification. A specimen can thus be "picture-keyed" initially, then positively identified by using the dichotomous keys in conjunction with the drawings. Anatomical and morphological drawings were included to allow the user to interpret key diagnostic features. Anatomical structures were illustrated (by DSL), in most cases from the actual specimens photographed, using a Zeiss Universal microscope and a Wild M-5 dissection microscope equipped with drawing tube and camera-lucida, respectively.<br><br> <strong>Descriptions:</strong> The name of each species is given with the reference to its original publication. Whenever appropriate, the basionym (original name) is listed below the species. An asterisk following a scientific name indicates additional information (synonyms, nomenclatural notes or other pertinent information) listed in the Appendix. We have incorporated the most recent taxonomic treatments, thus resulting in significant departures from Taylor (1960). Descriptions are as short and concise as possible, giving typical shape, size-range, color, blade features, stipe (when present) and holdfast characteristics. Specialized terminology has been kept to a minimum to facilitate use by colleagues in other disciplines. Terms that do not have a general-dictionary equivalent, but are necessary for adequate description (e.g., moniliform, cervicorn), are defined where they first occur in the text or in the glossary at the back. Dimensions are often given in the format (20–)30–50(–80), indicating that the normal range is from 30–50 but that individuals may be found with measurements as low as 20 or as high as 80. Anatomical structure is also detailed. Morphological/anatomical categories are headed in italics to aid in scanning major characters in the descriptions. Reproductive features are included when they aid in identification. Abundance, as used in this book, refers to the likelihood of encountering a given species. It is expressed as common (frequently observed), locally abundant (patchy, but abundant when found), uncommon (not normally encountered) or rare (seldom located). Habitat information is provided, describing the environs where each entity typically occurs, including substrate type and depth range. <br><br> <strong>Reef Phenomena:</strong> During this field-guide project, we observed and photographed many interesting ecological phenomena, some of which have led to experimental studies and other publications. Rather than leaving blank spaces across from the dichotomous keys or at the ends of sections, we have included such "phenomena" as sidebars, with appropriate captions and references, in the hope of stimulating further ecological interest. <br><br> <div align="center"><a href="RP-Order.htm" ><b>Ordering Information:</b></a></div><br><br> <IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="middle"></FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <br> <table WIDTH="600" align="center" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="1"> <tr> <td> <p><FONT COLOR="Blue"> <div align="center">Sorry, if you are seeing this message you have been directed to the NON-Frames version.</div> <br> <FONT FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">The Frames version of this site <a href=" http://offshoregraphics.biz/"> ( http://offshoregraphics.biz/ )</a> richly illustrates the books, using numerous photographs and excerpts from these identification guides. <IMG SRC="o-icons/clear2.gif" WIDTH="5" HEIGHT="1"> Only the introductory section has been reproduced in this non-frames version.</FONT></p> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <div align="center"><a href="RP-Order.htm" ><b>Ordering Information:</b></a></div> </FONT> </body>