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The World Beneath by Richard Smith: book review



The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs (2019) is set in the coral reefs and lagoons in the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in 23 countries. It covers the author’s experience and research from 2007 to 2019. 

The British author takes a multi-layered exploration of coral reefs – ‘the rainforests of the sea’ and the epicentres of biodiversity. He begins at the very beginning – the Triassic period, some 24 million years ago, and the formation of the reefs. He writes of animals that move – from the ocean floor to mid-waters to surface swimming – and animals that are sessile – attached to the sea floor or elsewhere that never move. 

 

He writes of photosynthesis, metamorphosis, and symbiosis. He writes of the shift from coral dominance to algal dominance. He looks at creatures great and small, from larvae to worms to sea stars and molluscs, and from crustaceans to cetaceans. Even reptiles, such as sea snakes and marine iguanas get a mention.

 

There are creatures that readers are familiar with and there are quirky, weird creatures, colourful and plain, thick-lipped and thin-bodied, iridescent and florescent. 

 

The World Beneath covers a wide range of topics about coral reefs: fish, invertebrates, corals, parasites, colours and camouflage. But, being a seahorse expert, the author highlights this fascinating creature more than others, focusing on ‘the biology of fatherhood’ because it is the male that becomes pregnant. 


Finally, the author speculates on the future of coral reefs, which are highly susceptible to pollutants.

 

Accompanying the narrative are more than 300 colour photographs. I like the photographs of camouflaged fish. 

 

This amazing book is interesting and compelling, showing marine richness, not only in its beauty, but in its symbiotic importance of the coastal seas off our shores.












 

 

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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