Editorial Review

Each attractive book has bright, eye-catching photos on almost every page. Blue ‘fact boxes’ offer snippets of data not found in the texts, which are written primarily in simple sentences. There are occasional lapses in accuracy, as when readers are informed that lion’s mane jellyfish grow to more than 3 feet across and that their tentacles hang down more than 30 feet (Sea Jellies) or, ‘Unlike many other sea creatures, sea stars cannot live in freshwater.’ (Sea Stars). Lion’s manes can have diameters of more than 6 feet and trail a train of tentacles up to 200 feet long. And most marine organisms, unless specially evolved to do so, cannot handle even brackish water without fatal results. More detailed than Barbara Juster Esbensen’s excellent Sponges are Skeletons (Harper Collins, 1993) or Twig George’s compelling Jellies (Millbrook, 2000), these titles might serve if demand is great and supplies are short.