Creatures of the Deep (Real-Life Monsters) - Softcover

Rake, Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1467776432 ISBN 13: 9781467776431

Publisher: Hungry Tomato ®, 2015

Synopsis

Dive down to the watery depths and encounter the ten strangest creatures living in the oceans. You'll discover:

● a fish with an angling light
● a snail that harpoons its prey
● a squid with eyes bigger than a human head

Come face to face with these extreme animals and learn their secrets!

About this title

About the Author

Matthew Rake lives in London and has worked in publishing for more than twenty years. He has written on a wide variety of topics, including science, sports, and the arts.

Award-winning illustrator Simon Mendez combines his love of nature and drawing by working as an illustrator with a focus on scientific and natural subjects. He lives in the United Kingdom.

Review

"In one of four titles launching the Real-Life Monsters series, Rake rates 10 ocean-dwelling animals with extreme characteristics according to size, power, strength, aggression, and deadliness. In last place, the lowly blobfish earns only six points ('The blobfish's saggy, droopy flesh means it doesn’t have much muscle'), while the fabulously named 'sarcastic fringehead' (after the Greek word sarkasmos) transforms from a mild-looking fish into a viperlike horror, earning 10 points for aggression alone. Photographs of each animal fill the pages, augmented with occasional diagrams―readers won't soon forget the terrifying, gaping jaws of creatures like the anglerfish and goblin shark."―Publishers Weekly

(Journal)

"Ten of nature's little horrors, presented in a gallery of close-up photo portraits with all-too-detailed commentary. From the evocatively named tongue-eating louse to the green-banded broodsac, which moves between hosts by crawling up inside a snail's eyestalk to mimic a caterpillar so that a bird will eat it, these 'tiny terrors and mini-monsters' are well-chosen to give even the most hardened browsers the heebie-jeebies. Mendez's dramatic photorealistic portraits and more schematic views of each parasite or predator in action join a selection of close-up stock photos, and Rake describes behaviors or symptoms with indecent relish. 'One [Indian red scorpion] sting can cause humans excruciating pain, vomiting, breathlessness, convulsions, and sometimes major heart problems. Oh, and if that isn't enough, it can also turn a victim's skin blue and make them froth at the mouth with pink, slimy mucus.' The co-published Creatures of the Deep offers like delights for 10 sea creatures, from the goblin shark to the blobfish and the sarcastic fringehead (yes, really!). Each volume closes with a summary 'Rogues' Gallery' and further notes on selected entries. Browsers' delights, but definitely not for the squeamish."―Kirkus Reviews

(Journal)

Edition details

• Publisher: Hungry Tomato ®
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1467776432
• ISBN 13: 9781467776431
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Mendez Simon