This short introduction from Blue Zoo Guides is designed for kids, but is also great for adults trying to educate themselves about the basics of ocean life.

Book Summary:
Children can't help but be fascinated with ocean critters. While wading at the edge of the sea during a beach vacation, a young reader may encounter sea birds overhead, ghost crabs and tiny swimming critters burrowing into the wet sand, or perhaps spot a dolphin swimming way out in the ocean. If all this wildlife is here at the edge, think of all creatures living under or around all that seawater! What are the names? How do they live? What do they eat? What do they look like? This book, part of the "Blue Zoo Guides" series, is almost as good as sampling ocean life for real. With its lively, colorful format, the book introduces readers to fish, from flounder to sea horses to sharks; mammals, such as whales, walruses, sea otters, and dolphins; reptiles, such as sea turtles, salt water crocodiles; and sea snakes; and birds (penguins); as well as invertebrates, such as squid, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea stars. This is the kind of book a child may want to read methodically, cover to cover, or dip into at any page. Background information on the diversity of ocean creatures, marine habitats, the world's oceans, plus information on each creature is well written and just enough for a literary "tour" of ocean life. Well-recommended! The book includes an extensive glossary and index plus a nifty way of telling the reader how big a critter is by comparing it to a three-foot child (or, in the case of the blue whale, a thirteen-foot car).