Introduction 1

Part 1: Getting Started with Your Ocean Voyage 5

Chapter 1: Brushing Up on Ocean Fundamentals 7

Chapter 2: Appreciating the Ocean's Many Gifts 19

Chapter 3: Looking Back at the Ocean's History (and Prehistory) 29

Part 2: Finding Your Way Around 55

Chapter 4: Mapping the Ocean by Zones 57

Chapter 5: Checking Out the Neighborhoods: The Ocean's Ecosystems 73

Chapter 6: Taking a Deeper Dive: Beneath the Ocean 99

Part 3: Sampling the Vast Diversity of Sea Life 109

Chapter 7: Getting to Know the Mighty Microbes 111

Chapter 8: Sorting Out Algae, Seaweed, and Other Aquatic Vegetation 127

Chapter 9: Getting the Lowdown on Simple Invertebrates 141

Chapter 10: Getting Mushy over Mollusks 159

Chapter 11: Wearing Their Skeletons on the Outside: Crustaceans 177

Chapter 12: Getting Chummy with Fish: Bony and Otherwise 195

Chapter 13: Meeting a Few Marine Reptiles 217

Chapter 14: Bird Watching in and Near the Ocean 231

Chapter 15: Getting Warm and Fuzzy with Marine Mammals 257

Part 4: Grasping Basic Ocean Physics 285

Chapter 16: Following the Ocean in Motion 287

Chapter 17: Driving Climate and Weather 307

Part 5: Understanding the Human-Ocean Connection 319

Chapter 18: Taking a Quick Dip into the History of Underwater Exploration 321

Chapter 19: Tapping the Ocean's Resources: The Blue Economy 341

Chapter 20: Governing the Ocean: Treaties, Laws, Agreements, and Enforcement 353

Chapter 21: Taking Care of the Ocean That Takes Care of Us 363

Part 6: The Part of Tens 385

Chapter 22: Ten Deadly Ocean Creatures 387

Chapter 23: Ten Ocean Myths Busted 395

Chapter 24: Ten Ways You Can Help Preserve the Ocean 401

Index 411