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The Extreme Life of the Sea
A thrilling tour of the sea's most extreme species, coauthored by one of the world's leading marine scientists
The ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world--the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents--and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches--to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today's leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species.
The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world's oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products--such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales--and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.
The ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world--the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents--and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches--to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today's leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species.
The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world's oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products--such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales--and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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June 5, 2025
“In the deep basement of the sea, there is a battle going on.”
1 Sentence Summary: A scientific tour through the ocean and all the different life therein.
My Thoughts: This was very cool and I learned a lot! I thought the chosen topics were interesting, and the organization of the book made a lot of sense. The photographs were awesome, and it was written in such a way that it’s accessible to the average person, but it’s also not too dumbed down.
I do think that it could have done with some more editing; there were some typos throughout and the prose was sometimes a little clunky. Good content, though!
Recommend to: People interested in learning more about ocean life.
September 26, 2014
This book is full of truly fascinating information. However, I found parts of the telling to be a chore. The book is written by a father/son team, one a marine biologist and the other a "writer and blogger". The seams between the contributions are often visible, where chapters or sub-chapters open with the author painting a vivid scene... in a totally unnecessary and gravely silly way totally unrelated to the facts to be relayed. Okay, thanks guy, you can skip the immersive prose account of how I feel to find myself at the bottom of the sea. Let's just get to the description at hand, shall we? Certain stock phrases and "writerly" touches show up throughout. I stopped counting the number of times a species is described as having "needle teeth". Regardless of my annoyance at these stylistic touches, the species described are truly extreme and bizarre. You'll learn amazing stuff about the sequential hermaphroditism of clownfish, the heating system of swordfish eyes, and the way that male anglerfish latch on as parasites to the female until his brain and other organs liquefy and dissolve, leaving essentially only a pair of enslaved gonads. Some of the book is very well written, including the cogent environmental warnings in the final chapter. If you can get over the occasional nepotistic infelicities of the prose, this is definitely worth a read.
September 20, 2015
In this nicely written, beautifully researched book a father and son, Marine Biologist and Diver collaborate to share with it's readers some of the beauties, wonders and weirdnessess of the marine environments. As a diver and a marine biologist (by training, if not by trade) this book charmed me. Many of the thing in it were not new to me but they were written with clarity, and humour so that it felt like a pleasant refresher about those animals I was familiar with and a fascinating exploration into those I knew less about.
The books chapters are titled with the types of 'extremes' to be found therein: For example chapter four is 'the smallest'. Within each chapter are a heap of different sections each addressing individual animals or habitats or conditions. This makes for very good reading in my opinion, as you can finish a section and think on it for as long or as short a time as you have at your disposal before moving on to the next.
I believe the science is very suitable for general readers, but the scientific information is also there in the notes and index where all the further reading you could possibly want is on offer for those of a more scientific bent who would like to follow up.
In the final chapter we review as all books of the kind tend to, the effects on the marine environments of human impact and global warming. Though this is generally depressing reading I found this chapter less so than I expected since the descriptions were both more matter of fact and interesting than I had expected.
This was a most wonderful book! It took me a long time to read because after a while I started allocating portions, so that it would not pass to fast, I would read a section and carry it with me through the day, something interesting to ruminate upon when there was nothing better to occupy my mind, so it was a very slow read but not for any bad reason. Though I got it out of the library I think I will purchase it just so that it will be there to read whenever I want to re-read a section. Also, purchasing power! I'm happy to pay for such a good book and I hope to encourage more of the same.
The books chapters are titled with the types of 'extremes' to be found therein: For example chapter four is 'the smallest'. Within each chapter are a heap of different sections each addressing individual animals or habitats or conditions. This makes for very good reading in my opinion, as you can finish a section and think on it for as long or as short a time as you have at your disposal before moving on to the next.
I believe the science is very suitable for general readers, but the scientific information is also there in the notes and index where all the further reading you could possibly want is on offer for those of a more scientific bent who would like to follow up.
In the final chapter we review as all books of the kind tend to, the effects on the marine environments of human impact and global warming. Though this is generally depressing reading I found this chapter less so than I expected since the descriptions were both more matter of fact and interesting than I had expected.
This was a most wonderful book! It took me a long time to read because after a while I started allocating portions, so that it would not pass to fast, I would read a section and carry it with me through the day, something interesting to ruminate upon when there was nothing better to occupy my mind, so it was a very slow read but not for any bad reason. Though I got it out of the library I think I will purchase it just so that it will be there to read whenever I want to re-read a section. Also, purchasing power! I'm happy to pay for such a good book and I hope to encourage more of the same.
April 6, 2019
An interesting and informative book, but it could have used another edit, and the writing style could get a little too cutesy for my tastes at times. Still, a good place to start if you're interested in learning about ocean life, especially the weird kind.
May 30, 2017
Interesting, informative and written in an entertaining, vivid and accessible way.
April 28, 2022
In the introduction, the authors observe "But too often writing about the sea, or any natural habitat, follows this script: detail the native diversity, catalogue species to awe and amaze, and then toll the bell of doom as you explain the man-made calamities unfolding in these habitats." Strangely, they proceed to write the book exactly to this formula. However, the content of the book is very good and covers many less known subjects.
The Cambrian Explosion populated the world with odd and complex organisms, but the subsequent competition and natural selection killed most of them off. And the winners began to diversify into the myriad related life forms we see in the oceans today. The authors note Stephen Jay Gould's concept of chance whereby a replay might see a different set of creatures become dominant.
Living fossils are organisms that evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and that have succeeded across eons without major changes. Trilobites lived for 200 million years, developed calcite crystal eyes and diversified to all major niches - but ended in the Permian-Triassic extinction. Ammonoids lived 400 millions of years but most went extinct during the K-T event. Horseshoe crabs first appeared 450 Mya, are most closely related to the spiders, and are the only remaining animal which features book gills. Coelacanths take their name from the larger order of “lobe-finned” fish to which they belong, an order that appeared a little later than the earliest sharks — about 400 million years ago. Every bird, reptile, and mammal alive today is descended in some way from this ancient stock of marine ancestors.
Sharks evolved around 400 Mya and featured a number of evolutionary innovations such as the jaw, a specialized organ called the ampullae of Lorenzini in the head that senses weak electric fields, and teeth - no other animal had teeth. However, unlike the other examples of living fossils, sharks continued to evolve from their initial appearance with the modern shark being very different from the earliest. "Despite the contrary popular conception, evolution does not lead to progress. If anything, evolution rewards short-term success and is devoid of long-term planning."
Pomeroy and colleagues projected the oceanic bacteria population at 10 to the power of 29 organisms — an inconceivable number representing more living creatures than there are stars in the universe. Such is their metabolic rate that a colony of photosynthesizing bacteria the mass of 100 human beings could, under ideal conditions, produce as much energy as a nuclear power plant. The tiny Procholorococcus produce some 10% of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen. The smallest bacteria feed on the detritus of the ocean, recycling it. Larger predators such as protozoa feed on them, forming the base of the food pyramid. Viruses feed on the bacteria, forming "the smallest predator-prey cycle in the world": up to 30% of the ocean’s biomass is cycling daily around this tiny, invisible predator-prey loop.
Deep sea creatures are predators, scavengers or landlords, the authors' term for the bacteria that live off the hydrogen sulphide emanating from the deep sea vents. A good chunk of the mass of the well known tube worms is made up of these bacteria, the surplus nourishing the worms.
Scientists estimate that more than a half-million whale falls exist in the planet’s oceans at any given time. As the vent tube worms grow very quickly, it is thought that the whale oasis's are important in the movement of vent life to new locations.
The pressures at great depth provide many challenges. When seals dive they breathe out so that as they get deeper their lungs collapse preventing the transfer of nitrogen into their bloodstream which would cause the bends. Cellular mechanics depend on limpids - those of most creatures would become too viscous to function at depth. The cells of deep sea creatures contain far fewer saturated fats, allowing them to function at high pressure. Bioluminescence is used by many deep sea creatures, creating a light display at depth. "Bioluminescence is the sea’s most important tactical adaptation."
Intertidal organisms live in a zone limited by dryness and sun above, and the presence of predators below. The eastern coasts of the U.S. are protected by areas of salt marsh where marsh grasses benefit from molluscs that break down vegetable matter, providing nutrients.
Creatures living in the sea must rid themselves of salt. White mangroves have leaf glands that secrete salt. Red mangroves have root filters that pass only fresh water to the tree.
Many ocean fish live far longer than has been previously known, their slow reproduction rates making them sensitive to fishing pressure. Yellow-eye rockfish often live to 100 years and longer. A bowhead whale was found with a broken-off stone harpoon of a type not used for 100 years. Black corals off of Hawaii have be found to be 4600 years old.
Sailfish were first seen to feed in Florida in 1940. They circle schools of smaller fish such as herring, forcing them into tight balls, then swim through the balls slashing at the fish with their long bills, and snapping up stunned prey. Sailfish have specialized muscle tissue that heats the eyes and the contracting muscles to as much as 4 degrees C warmer than the surrounding water. The authors present other specialized forms of propulsion including the airborn flying fish, the jet propulsion of squids, and the flight of the albatross driven by the energy of the waves.
The Pompeii worm lives at hydrothermal vents, its head staying in the cold deep water at 4 degrees C. while its tail stays near the vent where the water temperature is greater than 50 degrees C. - hotter than any other animal is able to withstand. The authors note that the coral reefs, "millions of years in the making", are "disturbingly fragile" as a temporary rise in temperature of only a few degrees can set off a major mortality event. They don't address the question of how the corals made it through the great variations in temperature of the past. They note that some corals have specific adaptations to withstand higher temperatures including an unstated number of species in the Red Sea.
Many sea mammals have adapted to the colder oceans through their great size, the whales being an obvious example. Sea otters have well insulated coats but also have high metabolisms, eating a quarter of their body weight in food each day. Icefish have adapted to the Antarctic waters that can drop to -2 degrees C. by generating a natural antifreeze protein. Cold water reefs are comprised of hexactinellids which are related to sponges that collect silicon dioxide from the water and form crystals called spicules to build tube-like spires.
The "family lives" of many creatures of the sea have more variation than seen on land. Many fishes change sex, an example being the clownfish which are all born male with the most dominant male turning female and the second developing functioning testes. Male anglerfish attach themselves to the body of the female, becoming no more than tiny appendages. The role of the male seahorse in raising the young is perhaps better known.
The authors conclude with information on the various threats to the ocean ecosystems including global warming, over-fishing, agricultural run-off causing huge algal blooms with attendant jellyfish explosions, and disease outbreaks such as one in the Caribbean that killed many of the urchins that control algae growth.
The Cambrian Explosion populated the world with odd and complex organisms, but the subsequent competition and natural selection killed most of them off. And the winners began to diversify into the myriad related life forms we see in the oceans today. The authors note Stephen Jay Gould's concept of chance whereby a replay might see a different set of creatures become dominant.
Living fossils are organisms that evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and that have succeeded across eons without major changes. Trilobites lived for 200 million years, developed calcite crystal eyes and diversified to all major niches - but ended in the Permian-Triassic extinction. Ammonoids lived 400 millions of years but most went extinct during the K-T event. Horseshoe crabs first appeared 450 Mya, are most closely related to the spiders, and are the only remaining animal which features book gills. Coelacanths take their name from the larger order of “lobe-finned” fish to which they belong, an order that appeared a little later than the earliest sharks — about 400 million years ago. Every bird, reptile, and mammal alive today is descended in some way from this ancient stock of marine ancestors.
Sharks evolved around 400 Mya and featured a number of evolutionary innovations such as the jaw, a specialized organ called the ampullae of Lorenzini in the head that senses weak electric fields, and teeth - no other animal had teeth. However, unlike the other examples of living fossils, sharks continued to evolve from their initial appearance with the modern shark being very different from the earliest. "Despite the contrary popular conception, evolution does not lead to progress. If anything, evolution rewards short-term success and is devoid of long-term planning."
Pomeroy and colleagues projected the oceanic bacteria population at 10 to the power of 29 organisms — an inconceivable number representing more living creatures than there are stars in the universe. Such is their metabolic rate that a colony of photosynthesizing bacteria the mass of 100 human beings could, under ideal conditions, produce as much energy as a nuclear power plant. The tiny Procholorococcus produce some 10% of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen. The smallest bacteria feed on the detritus of the ocean, recycling it. Larger predators such as protozoa feed on them, forming the base of the food pyramid. Viruses feed on the bacteria, forming "the smallest predator-prey cycle in the world": up to 30% of the ocean’s biomass is cycling daily around this tiny, invisible predator-prey loop.
Deep sea creatures are predators, scavengers or landlords, the authors' term for the bacteria that live off the hydrogen sulphide emanating from the deep sea vents. A good chunk of the mass of the well known tube worms is made up of these bacteria, the surplus nourishing the worms.
Scientists estimate that more than a half-million whale falls exist in the planet’s oceans at any given time. As the vent tube worms grow very quickly, it is thought that the whale oasis's are important in the movement of vent life to new locations.
The pressures at great depth provide many challenges. When seals dive they breathe out so that as they get deeper their lungs collapse preventing the transfer of nitrogen into their bloodstream which would cause the bends. Cellular mechanics depend on limpids - those of most creatures would become too viscous to function at depth. The cells of deep sea creatures contain far fewer saturated fats, allowing them to function at high pressure. Bioluminescence is used by many deep sea creatures, creating a light display at depth. "Bioluminescence is the sea’s most important tactical adaptation."
Intertidal organisms live in a zone limited by dryness and sun above, and the presence of predators below. The eastern coasts of the U.S. are protected by areas of salt marsh where marsh grasses benefit from molluscs that break down vegetable matter, providing nutrients.
Creatures living in the sea must rid themselves of salt. White mangroves have leaf glands that secrete salt. Red mangroves have root filters that pass only fresh water to the tree.
Many ocean fish live far longer than has been previously known, their slow reproduction rates making them sensitive to fishing pressure. Yellow-eye rockfish often live to 100 years and longer. A bowhead whale was found with a broken-off stone harpoon of a type not used for 100 years. Black corals off of Hawaii have be found to be 4600 years old.
Sailfish were first seen to feed in Florida in 1940. They circle schools of smaller fish such as herring, forcing them into tight balls, then swim through the balls slashing at the fish with their long bills, and snapping up stunned prey. Sailfish have specialized muscle tissue that heats the eyes and the contracting muscles to as much as 4 degrees C warmer than the surrounding water. The authors present other specialized forms of propulsion including the airborn flying fish, the jet propulsion of squids, and the flight of the albatross driven by the energy of the waves.
The Pompeii worm lives at hydrothermal vents, its head staying in the cold deep water at 4 degrees C. while its tail stays near the vent where the water temperature is greater than 50 degrees C. - hotter than any other animal is able to withstand. The authors note that the coral reefs, "millions of years in the making", are "disturbingly fragile" as a temporary rise in temperature of only a few degrees can set off a major mortality event. They don't address the question of how the corals made it through the great variations in temperature of the past. They note that some corals have specific adaptations to withstand higher temperatures including an unstated number of species in the Red Sea.
Many sea mammals have adapted to the colder oceans through their great size, the whales being an obvious example. Sea otters have well insulated coats but also have high metabolisms, eating a quarter of their body weight in food each day. Icefish have adapted to the Antarctic waters that can drop to -2 degrees C. by generating a natural antifreeze protein. Cold water reefs are comprised of hexactinellids which are related to sponges that collect silicon dioxide from the water and form crystals called spicules to build tube-like spires.
The "family lives" of many creatures of the sea have more variation than seen on land. Many fishes change sex, an example being the clownfish which are all born male with the most dominant male turning female and the second developing functioning testes. Male anglerfish attach themselves to the body of the female, becoming no more than tiny appendages. The role of the male seahorse in raising the young is perhaps better known.
The authors conclude with information on the various threats to the ocean ecosystems including global warming, over-fishing, agricultural run-off causing huge algal blooms with attendant jellyfish explosions, and disease outbreaks such as one in the Caribbean that killed many of the urchins that control algae growth.
January 15, 2016
Ever had the feeling that nowadays we know our world so well that there are no real surprises left? No unknown depths where no camera crew has been before? The Extreme Life of the Sea might prove you wrong.
The sea is the earth's largest habitat and has so many things to offer that only in the last few decades scientists managed to solve some of its mysteries. Still, there are depths of the deep sea yet to be explored and research is ongoing.
This book contains the things we already know about the many different life forms in this extreme habitat.
Stephen R. Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi aim to give us a "delighted sense of wonder at every mystery, and a spark of joy at each discovery, in every creature in creation".
Instead of just one page after the other of fun facts about the sea, the authors managed to integrate lots of scientific knowledge into compelling short descriptions and episodes. The broader context is not left out and the book gives a great overall understanding of the sea's importance to our world.
And there are just so many examples of how alien this marine world is and how many bizzare characters inhabit it - some with quite unusual concepts for reproduction or food consumption.
Wonders and discoveries indeed!
The sea is the earth's largest habitat and has so many things to offer that only in the last few decades scientists managed to solve some of its mysteries. Still, there are depths of the deep sea yet to be explored and research is ongoing.
This book contains the things we already know about the many different life forms in this extreme habitat.
Stephen R. Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi aim to give us a "delighted sense of wonder at every mystery, and a spark of joy at each discovery, in every creature in creation".
Instead of just one page after the other of fun facts about the sea, the authors managed to integrate lots of scientific knowledge into compelling short descriptions and episodes. The broader context is not left out and the book gives a great overall understanding of the sea's importance to our world.
And there are just so many examples of how alien this marine world is and how many bizzare characters inhabit it - some with quite unusual concepts for reproduction or food consumption.
Wonders and discoveries indeed!
January 23, 2016
This book was gifted to me by a friend, and despite the 3 star rating I really liked the vast majority of it. However, I disliked almost every chapter ending with essentially, okay we showed you all of these super cool sea creatures and here's how they're all going to die due to global climate change. The last chapter focuses specifically on how global climate change and reads like a eulogy of the ocean. While I understand that educating people on global climate change is important, I do not think it should be done using fear tactics that have never and will never work. The author's would have been much better served by focusing on the success stories of marine reserves.
5 stars if you don't read the last section of every chapter, the last chapter, and the epilogue.
5 stars if you don't read the last section of every chapter, the last chapter, and the epilogue.
March 17, 2020
This was a very entertaining book.
It goes through the animals and plants that live in extremes. This includes the organisms that live in the hottest or coldest environments, animals that live in the deep sea, and the biggest and the smallest animals.
The book was enjoyable, accessible, and well constructed. It included a lot of color photographs as well. There were a few factoids in there that really floored me as well.
Recommended if you're interested in sea life and the extreme limits of biology.
It goes through the animals and plants that live in extremes. This includes the organisms that live in the hottest or coldest environments, animals that live in the deep sea, and the biggest and the smallest animals.
The book was enjoyable, accessible, and well constructed. It included a lot of color photographs as well. There were a few factoids in there that really floored me as well.
Recommended if you're interested in sea life and the extreme limits of biology.
January 14, 2023
this book took me forever to get through. usually i’m a very fast reader but this one was set at such a slow pace. i really enjoyed the scientific aspects of this book and the urgency it portrays climate change in. the authors made very descriptive scenarios to try to put the reader in certain perspectives that i thought just made the book very confusing. they’d make a scenario and then dive straight into the heavy facts. again, the science was very interesting and i enjoyed learning many new things, but reading wise, it wasn’t my cup of tea.
December 21, 2021
Very slowly worked my way through this, taking it in small bite-sized segments. It's chock-full of amazing stories from the deep, presented in rapid fire succession. Definitely not one to sit down and read in lengthy sessions, but it continuously re-awakened my childhood curiosity in, and enthusiasm for, the mysterious and amazing world of marine biology. There's a variety in writing style which could be more consistent, but when it's at its best it's both educating and humorous. A few highlights -
"Nemo would rapidly develop mature gonads. He would become his own father while his father became his mother, and they would raise little incestuous Nemos together without a drip of sentimentality. In retrospect, the producers at Disney probably made the right call."
---
"The males are prepared, having cleaned their territories much the way young human men frantically scrub their bathrooms before dates. Their neighbors are the competition (talking about the fish again), and females will carefully inspect each territory."
---
"Now, maybe small mothers cannot afford such gifts to all their larvae—but in that case, theory says that they should make fewer larvae and go ahead and give them those same gifts. But fish like the black rockfish apparently do not read much theory."
"Nemo would rapidly develop mature gonads. He would become his own father while his father became his mother, and they would raise little incestuous Nemos together without a drip of sentimentality. In retrospect, the producers at Disney probably made the right call."
---
"The males are prepared, having cleaned their territories much the way young human men frantically scrub their bathrooms before dates. Their neighbors are the competition (talking about the fish again), and females will carefully inspect each territory."
---
"Now, maybe small mothers cannot afford such gifts to all their larvae—but in that case, theory says that they should make fewer larvae and go ahead and give them those same gifts. But fish like the black rockfish apparently do not read much theory."
August 10, 2025
Written by Stephen and Anthony Palumbi, this book does a wonderful job exploring the various extreme adaptations of marine life. From the early single celled organisms like Cyanobacteria that utilized CO2 and sunlight to form sugars to the complex adroitness of clownfish that have the ability to change their sex to ensure productive success, the authors are able to describe these processes in a way that is easy to understand.
I also appreciate the authors providing data to demonstrate the negative impact humans are having upon the environment and the ramifications this will have to future marine life throughout the ecosystem of the sea. I do however wish the authors had provided some mechanism by which we can enact change even if it means making small changes in our own personal dietary habits.
Overall I great enjoyed this book and learned quite a few facts that I will be able to relay to my daughter as she ages to show her how smart her father is :)
I also appreciate the authors providing data to demonstrate the negative impact humans are having upon the environment and the ramifications this will have to future marine life throughout the ecosystem of the sea. I do however wish the authors had provided some mechanism by which we can enact change even if it means making small changes in our own personal dietary habits.
Overall I great enjoyed this book and learned quite a few facts that I will be able to relay to my daughter as she ages to show her how smart her father is :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2026
This book covers all the bases in my opinion. It gives a refreshing overview of all what lives in the oceans that cover 80% of planet earth. The authors treat the inhabitants of the world's oceans as interesting characters, each with their unique lifestyles, habits, dating rituals and social interactions. Each chapter explores what lives in the oceans just out of our sight from a different perspective. The chapters discuss the coldest, oldest, smallest living things in the oceans. The incredible diversity that lives there will astound any reader. You do not need to have a scientific background to enjoy this book. If you find nature to be fascinating, then this book will enthrall you from the first chapter. The authors do not shy away from discussing the impact of climate change on the living things in the world's oceans. It is the final chapter of the book and they don't present it as a doomsday scenario. Rather they try to focus on the impact that individuals can have and how this can give the life in the seas a chance to survive into the future. I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read and it might just make you want to explore the world's oceans a bit more.
April 30, 2023
This is a fascinating look at some of the extreme animals of the deep - the oldest, smallest, largest, fastest, and the like.
Whales, tube worms, seahorses and more get their time in the spotlight.
One of my favorite was the sea otter and its story of falling numbers and then a rebound around Monterey Bay, also one of my favorites places.
I appreciate that the author kept the climate change lecturing until the very end. I'm not denying or anything like it, but not EVERY book about nature has to scold readers. It gets tiring.
Whales, tube worms, seahorses and more get their time in the spotlight.
One of my favorite was the sea otter and its story of falling numbers and then a rebound around Monterey Bay, also one of my favorites places.
I appreciate that the author kept the climate change lecturing until the very end. I'm not denying or anything like it, but not EVERY book about nature has to scold readers. It gets tiring.
October 14, 2025
"... today the impact of more than 7 billion people presses down on the oceans. Humans affect ocean life all the way from the level of individual organisms to the functioning, and survival, of entire ecosystems." - The Extreme Life of the Sea
An excellent book - if disturbing.
A whirlwind tour of life in the oceans, from its inception and evolution as written in the fossil record to the present day. The many inhabitants from the surface (and above) to the deepest abyss. And how we are doing our best to destroy this web of life of the oceans.
An excellent book - if disturbing.
A whirlwind tour of life in the oceans, from its inception and evolution as written in the fossil record to the present day. The many inhabitants from the surface (and above) to the deepest abyss. And how we are doing our best to destroy this web of life of the oceans.
November 22, 2025
finally finished this book which i started for a marine ecology class; an entertaining & accessible book of reliably-sourced ocean fun facts for someone like me who is interested in science yet doesn't know much about life underwater! i wish there were more pictures (i spent so much time googling every species mentioned!) but it is an enjoyable read nonetheless & a great overview of the awe-inspiring diversity in the ocean
May 6, 2017
Very informative and educational. Went through the entire ocean highlighting the ways in which life has evolved to survive in its environment. How the mysteries of the ocean are constantly being brought forward. Did get a bit boring at times but did interest me in reading more about different types of animals.
January 13, 2020
The Extreme Life of the Sea is an interesting book about some truly strange marine life and how they are adapted to survive in their ecological niches. The last two chapter also segue nicely into explaining the implications those narrow niches will have in changing climates. Overall, a great book and one that I would recommend.
March 3, 2020
Really interesting stories about different marine species, nicely grouped by what “extreme” they’ve managed to conquer. While the prose wasn’t exceptional, it flowed pretty well.
Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes reading about incredible animals.
Reading this book made me realize how little I know about the sea, even parts that I was aware of, like mollusks and whales.
Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes reading about incredible animals.
Reading this book made me realize how little I know about the sea, even parts that I was aware of, like mollusks and whales.
March 13, 2020
I learned a lot of interesting things about oceanic life- some of my favorite topics were the anglerfish, jellies, sea worms, and otters. I got this book for my classroom library, and I was hoping that it would feel more like a young-adult level read.
March 14, 2018
Interesting book documenting extremes (hot, cold, large, small etc.) in oceans.
April 17, 2018
Disappointed this is written for a very general public. Best for middle schoolers
January 27, 2019
This book reads like a children encyclopedia; a box of chocolates of short, interesting stories with an underlying educational and awareness raising point. I loved it.
January 7, 2020
This is a good overview of Marine Biology. It explores various life from the microscopic to the large whales.
May 3, 2021
Great set of vignettes about unusual marine life! Has the typical Attenborough conclusion, which I do appreciate even though it makes me sad.
August 18, 2024
Excessively chatty.
November 10, 2025
Fascinating!
November 10, 2014
Extreme Life of the Sea is a collection of fascinating facts and explanations of marine life forms, ranging from whales to bacteria and all sizes and types in between. The authors explain complex biological functions and evolutionary adaptations in layman's language – easily understood, informative to the utmost, and engrossingly organized and explained. Seal deep diving, swordfish ability to see well at great depths, bacterial life in the rifts and sulfuric sea spouts, breeding strategies and mechanisms, giant squid - the deepest, shallowest, oldest, coldest, fastest, smallest, oddest... and so much more. Every chapter, and every sub-chapter within, offers new subjects and absorbing information about some species or marine life form. If you have an interest in marine life, this is a great little book to read!
To their credit, the authors avoid using the subject matter as a clarion call to the crusade against climate warming… until the last chapter, devoted to just that. Although climate change is unquestionably real (could there be a more obvious point?) and the earth’s climate has unquestionably warmed since the last Ice Age and continues to do so in gradual fits and starts (equally obvious), the evidence that human activity is to blame is not so clear – even doubtful as modern science continues to explore and learn. It is not settled science – science seldom if ever is…
See: Christopher Monckton (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/11/07...) pointing out some of the fundamental evidence:
Since October 1996 there has been no global warming at all.
This fact is a severe embarrassment to the warmists, who admit that they have no explanation for it. Monckton notes some additional salient facts:
* The global warming trend since 1900 is equivalent to 0.8 Cº per century. This is well within natural variability and may not have much to do with us.
* The fastest measured warming trend lasting ten years or more occurred over the 40 years from 1694-1733 in Central England. It was equivalent to 4.3 Cº per century.
* Since 1950, when a human influence on global temperature first became theoretically possible, the global warming trend has been equivalent to below 1.2 Cº per century.
* In 1990, the IPCC’s mid-range prediction of near-term warming was equivalent to 2.8 Cº per century, higher by two-thirds than its current prediction of 1.7 Cº/century.
* The global warming trend since 1990, when the IPCC wrote its first report, is equivalent to below 1.4 Cº per century – half of what the IPCC had then predicted.
* The IPCC’s predicted 4.8 Cº warming by 2100 is well over twice the greatest rate of warming lasting more than ten years that has been measured since 1950.
To their credit, the authors avoid using the subject matter as a clarion call to the crusade against climate warming… until the last chapter, devoted to just that. Although climate change is unquestionably real (could there be a more obvious point?) and the earth’s climate has unquestionably warmed since the last Ice Age and continues to do so in gradual fits and starts (equally obvious), the evidence that human activity is to blame is not so clear – even doubtful as modern science continues to explore and learn. It is not settled science – science seldom if ever is…
See: Christopher Monckton (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/11/07...) pointing out some of the fundamental evidence:
Since October 1996 there has been no global warming at all.
This fact is a severe embarrassment to the warmists, who admit that they have no explanation for it. Monckton notes some additional salient facts:
* The global warming trend since 1900 is equivalent to 0.8 Cº per century. This is well within natural variability and may not have much to do with us.
* The fastest measured warming trend lasting ten years or more occurred over the 40 years from 1694-1733 in Central England. It was equivalent to 4.3 Cº per century.
* Since 1950, when a human influence on global temperature first became theoretically possible, the global warming trend has been equivalent to below 1.2 Cº per century.
* In 1990, the IPCC’s mid-range prediction of near-term warming was equivalent to 2.8 Cº per century, higher by two-thirds than its current prediction of 1.7 Cº/century.
* The global warming trend since 1990, when the IPCC wrote its first report, is equivalent to below 1.4 Cº per century – half of what the IPCC had then predicted.
* The IPCC’s predicted 4.8 Cº warming by 2100 is well over twice the greatest rate of warming lasting more than ten years that has been measured since 1950.
December 25, 2015
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. Pop science often falls flat -- it's hard to walk that thin line of being simultaneously accurate, up-to-date, and compelling. The Palumbis managed to pull it off quite well in this book.
It's a whirlwind tour of a number of "gee whiz" (and some "holy sh*t") facets of sea life. But rather than being either a dry recitation of facts or an edutianment-style tabloid, it manages to treat its subjects with reverence, delight, wonder, beauty, and depth.
Chapters are arranged thematically, focusing on "the oldest", "the smallest", "the largest", "the deepest", and so on. Within each, they bring out a zoo of sea life, ranging from single-celled archaea to blue whales, and everything in between. They only give a few pages to each, but they manage to develop some life for each in that brief treatment. And they manage to pepper in clearly well researched and state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, without rendering it tedious. (I don't have the book handy to precisely cite some of their factoids, but there are some truly mind-boggling things here, like that the oceans turn over more carbon mass in something like a day than there is entire biomass on the surface.)
To their credit, they restrain most of the panic about the threats to the oceans for the last chapter. I suppose it's a public service to highlight issues like rising temperatures, acidification, and fertilizer runoff. And they raised some points that I was previously unaware of. (For example, most ocean life has far less thermal regulation ability than we do, and is precisely evolutionarily tuned to a very narrow thermal band, and so is critically threatened by temperature changes of only a few degrees.) But still, I'm already painfully aware of a lot of the devastation and threats -- reading more about it these days is an exercise in masochism. :-(
Still, on balance, I really enjoyed this book. It renews my desire to go see as many of these beautiful and strange creatures as I can in person. Highly recommend.
Besides, this book taught me about the critter with the most wonderful scientific name ever: Osedax mucofloris: the bone-eating snot-flower worm. Sea life is awesome.
It's a whirlwind tour of a number of "gee whiz" (and some "holy sh*t") facets of sea life. But rather than being either a dry recitation of facts or an edutianment-style tabloid, it manages to treat its subjects with reverence, delight, wonder, beauty, and depth.
Chapters are arranged thematically, focusing on "the oldest", "the smallest", "the largest", "the deepest", and so on. Within each, they bring out a zoo of sea life, ranging from single-celled archaea to blue whales, and everything in between. They only give a few pages to each, but they manage to develop some life for each in that brief treatment. And they manage to pepper in clearly well researched and state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, without rendering it tedious. (I don't have the book handy to precisely cite some of their factoids, but there are some truly mind-boggling things here, like that the oceans turn over more carbon mass in something like a day than there is entire biomass on the surface.)
To their credit, they restrain most of the panic about the threats to the oceans for the last chapter. I suppose it's a public service to highlight issues like rising temperatures, acidification, and fertilizer runoff. And they raised some points that I was previously unaware of. (For example, most ocean life has far less thermal regulation ability than we do, and is precisely evolutionarily tuned to a very narrow thermal band, and so is critically threatened by temperature changes of only a few degrees.) But still, I'm already painfully aware of a lot of the devastation and threats -- reading more about it these days is an exercise in masochism. :-(
Still, on balance, I really enjoyed this book. It renews my desire to go see as many of these beautiful and strange creatures as I can in person. Highly recommend.
Besides, this book taught me about the critter with the most wonderful scientific name ever: Osedax mucofloris: the bone-eating snot-flower worm. Sea life is awesome.
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