Baensch Marine Atlas Volume 2
Updated August 12, 2019
Author: Mike - FishLore Admin
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The Baensch Marine Atlas Volume 2 is part of a three part book series providing detailed information on marine fish and invertebrate species. I'm doing this review of second volume first because a friend of mine has borrowed the other two and has seemingly forgotten to return them. Fear not, I'm sending Vinnie over to collect these prized books for me to review the other two books in this marine atlas series.
While volume one covered anemones and crustaceans, volumes two and three deal with invertebrates and corals. Volume 2 of the Baensch Marine Atlas comes in at around 736 pages with over 700 photos! The one word that comes to mind when looking through these books is... EPIC. The book starts with an introduction from the authors and a key of sorts that explains how to use the profile information on each species. There are tons of species listed with a full color photograph and general information regarding the species. See which species are included in volume two below.
Phylum: Porifers - Sponges - about 100 pages of sponges- Calcareous Sponges, Honeycomb Sponges
- Common Sponges
- Hyrdozoans
- Jellyfishes
- Anthozoans - octocorals, pipe corals, soft corals, gorgonians, sea pens, etc.
- Order Scleractinia - stony corals, black corals
- Tentacled Comb Jellies, Warty Comb Jellies, Venus Girdie
- Nontentacled Comb Jellies
- Turbellarians
- Polyclads
- Bryozoans
- Chitons
- Gastropods, Snails, Sea Hares, Sea Slugs
- Nudibranchs
On each profile page there is a nice key on how to quickly learn about the species and it details information such as the common names, the habitat and location the species is found in, any sexual differences, maintenance conditions, lighting requirements, breeding and reproduction info, feeding requirements, specialties, temperature, size, recommended aquarium length (rather than tank volume, they use length), water movement, scale on the availability to the trade and degree of difficulty in keeping them in aquariums.
Each section starts out with general information about the Phylum and includes a breakdown of the Class, Order, Family and Species. Near the stony coral section there is a nice section that provides information on the various coral reef zones.
While this book doesn't provide detailed information on each of the species, it does provide a huge range of species with really good pictures to help in identification. I find myself using it as a double check when needing to identify something. These Baensch Marine Atlases are expensive but definitely worth it if these marine species interest you. I give this book 5 stars. 
Reviewed by: Mike FishLore
Summary: Book review of Baensch Marine Atlas Volume 2
Description: The Baensch Marine Atlas Volume 2 is part of a three part book series providing detailed information on marine fish and invertebrate species.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
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