I have mixed emotions about this book, it is very informative on many levels but falls short on many more. I was thinking that it would be about things frequently seen from the beach but it includes a lot of info the layman will probably never need. This includes info (I personally appreciated) about planktonic animals, mieofauna and epifauna, in general a bunch of small animals most people will never notice. Not to say that they shouldn't have been included! They are very important to understanding the ecology of the areas discussed. See what I mean about mixed emotions? I like the way that the book grouped things by community; oyster reef, seagrass bed, mud bottom, etc. A hearty appendix that linked things by taxonomic group would have been nice though. Illustrations where copious but a tad bit simple. In the price range the line drawings could have been better, or supplemented by black and white illustrations. Also curious was the listing of only invertebrates until the end, then the authors jumped over everything and threw in a chapter on sea turtles??? What about the rest of the marine vertebrates? Why include the turtles without the fish and marine mammals? Kind of lopsided.

If you see this book lying around it is certainly worth having. I'm still using it to flip back and explore certain areas. I wouldn't get to hung up on finding a copy, unless you're really trying to own everything on gulf coast marine life.