Beachcombing: A guide to seashores of the Southern Hemisphere, Browse our books, Otago University Press

A guide to seashores of the Southern Hemisphere

Ceridwen Fraser

Fraser cover OUP 1500 If you've ever walked along a beach or rocky shore and peered, poked or wondered at the things cast upon it by the waves, this book is for you.

Sea foam, ambergris, giant squid, stranded whales, seaweed, shells, plastic, dead birds, shoes and pieces of planes or rockets … Beaches are our windows to the ocean, and the objects we find on them tell stories about life, death and dynamic processes in the sea.

Beachcombing looks at waves and tides, the connectivity of Southern Hemisphere coastlines, and the life cycles of marine plants and animals. It will help you understand the objects and organisms you find on beaches, and the intriguing reasons they have come to be there.

The author

Ceridwen (Crid) Fraser grew up in Australia and spent childhood summers poking around in rockpools along the New South Wales south coast. She developed a deep attachment to the ocean and the fascinating critters that live in and around it, and decided at the age of 11 to become a marine biologist. She has worked in Belgium and Australia, and today is an associate professor in the Marine Science Department at the University of Otago.