Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Principles of Oceanography and Marine Biology -- 1. Sounding the Deep -- 2. The Oceanic Environment -- 3. Ecological and Evolutionary Principles -- II. Marine Organisms: Function and Environment -- 4. The Chemical and Physical Environment -- 5. Reproduction, Dispersal, and Migration -- 6. Life in a Fluid Medium -- III. Organisms of the Open Sea -- 7. The Water Column: Plankton -- 8. The Water Column: Nekton -- IV. Processes in the Open Sea -- 9. Critical Factors in Plankton Abundance -- 10. Productivity and Food Webs in the Sea -- V.Organisms of the Seabed -- 11. The Diversity of Benthic Marine Invertebrates -- 12. Seaweeds, Sea Grasses, and Benthic Microorganisms -- 13. Benthic Life Habits -- VI. Coastal Benthic Environments -- 14. The Tidelands: Rocky Shores, Soft-Substratum Shores, Marshes, Mangroves, and Estuaries -- 15. Sea Grass Beds, Kelp Forests, Rocky Reefs, and Coral Reefs -- VII Processes on the Seabed, from the Shelf to the Deep Sea -- 16. From the Continental Shelf to the Deep Sea -- 17. Biodiversity and Conservation of the ocean -- VIII. Human Impact on the Sea -- 18. Food from the Sea -- 19. Marine Pollution -- Glossary -- Marine Biology Journals.