Creatures of the Deep

"Ten of nature's little horrors, presented in a gallery of close-up photo portraits with all-too-detailed commentary. From the evocatively named tongue-eating louse to the green-banded broodsac, which moves between hosts by crawling up inside a snail's eyestalk to mimic a caterpillar so that a bird will eat it, these 'tiny terrors and mini-monsters' are well-chosen to give even the most hardened browsers the heebie-jeebies. Mendez's dramatic photorealistic portraits and more schematic views of each parasite or predator in action join a selection of close-up stock photos, and Rake describes behaviors or symptoms with indecent relish. 'One [Indian red scorpion] sting can cause humans excruciating pain, vomiting, breathlessness, convulsions, and sometimes major heart problems. Oh, and if that isn't enough, it can also turn a victim's skin blue and make them froth at the mouth with pink, slimy mucus.' The co-published Creatures of the Deep offers like delights for 10 sea creatures, from the goblin shark to the blobfish and the sarcastic fringehead (yes, really!). Each volume closes with a summary 'Rogues' Gallery' and further notes on selected entries. Browsers' delights, but definitely not for the squeamish."--Kirkus Reviews

"In one of four titles launching the Real-Life Monsters series, Rake rates 10 ocean-dwelling animals with extreme characteristics according to size, power, strength, aggression, and deadliness. In last place, the lowly blobfish earns only six points ('The blobfish's saggy, droopy flesh means it doesn't have much muscle'), while the fabulously named 'sarcastic fringehead' (after the Greek word sarkasmos) transforms from a mild-looking fish into a viperlike horror, earning 10 points for aggression alone. Photographs of each animal fill the pages, augmented with occasional diagrams--readers won't soon forget the terrifying, gaping jaws of creatures like the anglerfish and goblin shark."--Publishers Weekly