Life between the tides

Maybe you simply enjoy walking along the beach, searching the wrack line and exploring tide pools. Or you fish or hunt in salt marshes and estuaries and are interested in all that surrounds you. Perhaps you're involved in a closer look as an educator or volunteer along the coast. Our coastline -- with its rocky shore, mudflats, salt marshes, and sandy beaches -- provides a diverse habitat and is home to many marine and estuarine species. Some, such as lobsters, crabs, and sea urchins, are familiar to everyone. Many others, however, might be new to you. Here's a beautifully illustrated little field guide that will help you identify and learn about the many plants and animals of our intertidal zone. Written for the Maine Sea Grant Program by Les Watling, Jill Fegley, and John Moring, it's a fact-filled resource, arranged for easy identification, covering habitats, invertebrates, fishes, and marine plants and seaweeds. Andrea Sulzer's pen-and-ink drawings, carefully done from live specimens, are finely detailed works of art!