Nudibranchs, the ‘butterflies of the sea’, belong to a group that includes bubble shells, sea hares, side-gilled slugs, sap-sucking slugs and sea butterflies (pteropods). This group includes some of the most beautiful, colourful and delicate of all marine creatures. More than 400 species of nudibranchs occur in south-eastern Australia. This guide introduces marine naturalists, divers, biologists and others to the nudibranchs and related molluscs commonly encountered in the Bass Strait region—their identification, biology, and associations with other plants and animals. An introductory pictorial key is included, along with nearly 250 species descriptions accompanied by colour photographs and illustrations to aid recognition. Further references and a glossary are also included.

The iconic and beautiful Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. With contributions from international experts, this timely and fully updated second edition of The Great Barrier Reef describes the animals, plants and other organisms of the reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. It contains new chapters on shelf slopes and fisheries and addresses pressing issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, coral bleaching and disease, and invasive species. The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and environmental manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a reference text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs.

This large work on sea slugs of the Western Indian Ocean is a major contribution to our knowledge of opisthobranch diversity and biogeography.ÿ The western Indian Ocean has long been known as a distinct biogeographical region, and reports of opisthobranchs from the province have been sporadic.ÿ Despite nearly 200 years of study, recent work estimates that there are more than 1000 undescribed species in the whole of the Indo-Pacific region.ÿ There have been considerable developments in the study of many taxonomic groups for the area in the last 50 years, including opisthobranchs, and this paper describes 70 species, of which ten species are recorded from the western Indian Ocean for the first time.ÿ Many phyllidiids and chromodorids seem to have a distribution limited to the western Indian Ocean, whilst there seem to be differences in species richness between coastal areas and island groups.ÿ Further work will shed light on many of these issues.

The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia-in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences-and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. This book is the outgrowth of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "Brain and Behavior," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 20-21, 2012, at the Academy's Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, CA. It is the sixth in a series of Colloquia under the general title "In the Light of Evolution." Specifically, In Light of Evolution: Brain and Behavior focuses on the field of evolutionary neuroscience that now includes a vast array of different approaches, data types, and species. This volume is also available for purchase with the In the Light of Evolution six-volume set.