Marine Biology References
These books are indispensable for identifying the plants and animals found along the North Atlantic seashore. These should be available at any major bookstore.
A good project for rainy days and snowed-in weekends is to go through the plates ( illustrations ) in your field guides and highlight all the species that are found in your area. This will make the guides far more useful, and also give you a chance to become more familiar with the plants and animals you may encounter. Beats watching television.
Field Guides
Peterson's Field Guides - Atlantic Coast Fishes
Robins / Ray / Douglass
Houghton Mifflin, 1986
354 pages, illustrated, color
essential for NJ divers
Peterson's Field Guides - Atlantic Seashore
Kenneth L. Gosner
Houghton Mifflin, 1979
330 pages, illustrated, color
essential for NJ divers
Peterson's Field Guides - Freshwater Fishes
Page / Brooks
Houghton Mifflin, 1986
432 pages, illustrated, color
Beachcomber's Guide from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras: Marine Life of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland
Henry Keatts
Gulf Publishing, 1995
248 pages, illustrated, color, BW
Fishes of Chesapeake Bay
Edward O. Murdy
Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002
360 pages, illustrated, color, BW
Golden Guides - Pond Life
George K. Reid
Golden Press, 1967
160 pages, illustrated, color:
Tropical Field Guides
Peterson's Field Guides - Coral Reefs
Eugene H. Kaplan
Houghton Mifflin, 1982
289 pages, illustrated, color
Peterson's Field Guides - Southwestern and Caribbean Seashores
Eugene H. Kaplan
Houghton Mifflin, 1988
425 pages, illustrated, color
Scientific
If you are scientifically inclined, the bible:
( of fishes, that is )
Fishes of the Gulf of Maine
originally Fishery Bulletin #74, 1953
revised & updated
Bigelow & Schroeder
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
vol 53, no. 74, 1953
This government publication is available in three forms online, as well as in print:
Website - recommended | PDF (43MB) | EPUB (4MB)
Fishes of the Chesapeake Bay
originally Bulletin of the US Bureau of Fisheries, Vol XLIII, 1927
revised & updated
Samuel F. Hildebrand, William C. Schroeder
The Blackburn Press, 2002
388 pages
Aquarium
Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook
Robert J. Goldstein
Barron's, 1997
198 pages, illustrated, color
This is the best technical saltwater guide I have found.
Other
The Secret Life of Lobsters
Trevor Corson
Harper Collins, 2004
Cod
Mark Kurlansky, 1997
The Founding Fish
John McPhee
Harper Collins, 2004
Papers (PDF)
- NJ Saltwater Fishing Guide
- Survey of New Jersey’s Recreational Wreck / Artificial Reef Fisheries, 2000
- Micro-Movements of Black Sea Bass on the Atlantic City Reef Site
- The Importance of Artificial Reef Epifauna to Black Sea Bass Diets in the Middle Atlantic Bight
- Reef Habitats in the Mid-Atlantic Bight
For those days that you can't get out diving, here are all the references listed in the sections of this site gathered together. Armchair diving beats watching the idiot box.
Nowadays, it is easy to order books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBay, or in some cases, direct from the publisher. "eBooks" can be delivered instantly to your computer, phone, or tablet, and have become my preferred way of reading. Old out-of-print references can be found with an online search at any of the sites above and delivered to your door. All of these sites act as online clearinghouses for used-book sellers across the country, so it is easy to get almost anything.
More: Bookshelf ...
There is actually a wealth of books on the subject of diving the New Jersey / New York area. A great deal more information, including loran numbers and/or directions, much more detailed histories and descriptions, and historical photos, can be found in these references, and I highly recommend all of them. You can find these at your local dive shop, or order all of them directly from the links on this page.
Many out-of-print titles are still available from used book dealers and can be found by searching online.
Update 2020:
Unfortunately, most of these are out of print now, but you can search out used copies.
Latest
Undiminished Violence by Thomas G Clark |  |
Where Divers Dare The Hunt for the Last U-boat by Randall Peffer |  |
Hidden History of Maritime New Jersey by Steve Nagiewicz |  |
More: Dive Sites References ...
New Jersey
A Guide to Fishing & Diving New Jersey Reefs
NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, 2008 edition
68 pages, illustrated, b&w, waterproof
Includes GPS numbers for all reef sites. This invaluable book has been out of print for years.
More: Artificial Reefs References ...
I find this sort of material to be much more interesting than the endless rehashing of coral reefs, glowingly useless gear reviews, and "buoyancy tips" that fill up the standard glossy diving magazines.
Historical
Conservation Manual – Donny L. Hamilton
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
Peter Kemp, 1988
Lots of interesting information and trivia.
More: Artifacts References ...
The Essentials of Deeper Sport Diving
John Lippman
AquaQuest, 1992
320 pages, illustrated, b&w
This book is not about technical diving but covers many important aspects of decompression physiology and deep-diving techniques and equipment that any diver ought to know. I see it for 1 cent used on Amazon - get a copy !!!
US Navy Dive Manual
1999, updated 2001
Free Download: US Navy Dive Manual
More: Dive Gear References ...