**A TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2025 SO FAR * A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK TO READ THIS SUMMER **
A transporting, mind-expanding exploration of the deep sea and the strange, astonishing and ancient creatures who inhabit it - revealing their hidden worlds and all we can learn from it.
'An undersea safari ... enchanting' THE TIMES
'[Harvell] writes vividly and with tangible delight' SPECTATOR
Hundred-year-old giant clams, coral kingdoms the size of cities, and jellyfish that glow in the dark: ocean invertebrates are among the oldest, strangest and most diverse organisms on Earth.
From Hawaii to the Salish Sea, from the Caribbean to Indonesia, leading marine ecologist Dr Drew Harvell dives deep into the ocean to uncover these incredible spineless creatures and their extraordinary superpowers. We meet corals many times stronger than steel or concrete, sponges who create potent chemical compounds to fight off disease, and sea stars who garden the coastlines, keeping all the other nearby species in perfect balance.
Our oceans teem with life, vitality and wonder, but they are in jeopardy. As global warming threatens to ravage our planet and change all our lives, the innovations of these wondrous creatures hold ever more important secrets for saving our seas - and our own survival.
The Ocean's Menagerie is at once a miraculous tale of biological marvels and an urgent call to arms to protect our planet's most important ecosystem.
'Revelatory' WILLIAM GIBSON
'Each page is full of wonder and surprise' STEVE BRUSATTE
'Magic' TOM MUSTILL
