Florida's living beaches

Florida has 1200 miles of coastline, almost 700 miles of which are sandy beaches. Exploring along those beaches offers encounters with myriads of plants, animals, minerals, and manmade objects—all are covered in this comprehensive guide with descriptive accounts of 822 items, 983 color images, and 431 maps. Beginning with the premise that beaches are themselves alive, this guide to the natural history of Florida beaches heralds the living things and metaphorical life near, on, and within the state’s sandy margins. It is organized into Beach Features, Beach Animals, Beach Plants, Beach Minerals, and Hand of Man. In addition to being an identification guide, the book reveals much of the wonder and mystery between dune and sea along Florida’s long coastline. Each part of a living beach is shown to have its own unique intrigue, with featured diversity that includes wrack lines, runnels, ripples, sea foam, hurricanes, jellies, blue buttons, hundreds of seashells, beachhoppers, ghost crabs, tiger beetles, heart urchins, sea pork, surf fishes, sea turtles, dozens of shore birds, beach mice, tracks in the sand, whales, beach flowers, dune plants, seabeans, driftwood, rainbow sands, shelly rocks, volcanic pumice, fossils, beach shrines, sea glass, Spanish treasure, sea heroes, fishing curiosities, beach threats, conservation, and quests. Whether common or rare, powerful or delicate, beautiful or odd, each part of a living beach has a story to tell.