Beachcombing

A guide to seashores of the Southern Hemisphere

By: Ceridwen Fraser

Discover the fascinating stories behind what the oceans leave on our beaches.

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. 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 will help you to understand what you find on beaches, and the intriguing reasons these objects and organisms have come to be there.

News

Sales in Australia only. Elsewhere, this title is available through Otago University Press (external link).

Read more on our blog:
Ceridwen Fraser talks about what sparked her love of the marine world, and the stories that cast-up treasures can reveal: Coastal Treasures: Beachcombing with Ceridwen Fraser

Reviews

"A terrific and accessible guide well worth a read and investment!"
Dr Sam Lloyd, Ecological Society of Australia, 28 September 2021

"A good introduction to what we might expect to find, be we in Australia, southern Africa or South America, sparkling with little snippets and anecdotes."
Ian Fraser Natural History Reviews #30, January 2022

"It is beautifully illustrated, and these pictures could well serve as an identification guide, but at a general level only. This is a well-presented and informative book."
Mike Gregson, The Naturalists News, Jan-Feb 2022

"Rather than just highlighting and identifying the species you might expect to find (which is does very nicely), the guide provides a basis for the environmental processes associated with marine environments, as well as focussing on the fascinating aspects of the seashore around rockpools, the intertidal zone and the treasures that wash up on the shore."
Dr Samantha Lloyd, Children's Books Daily, 5 January 2023

Details

Paperback | July 2021 | $ 27.99
ISBN: 9781486314898 | 116 pages | 210 x 170 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Colour illustrations, Colour photographs

Features

Helps readers identify the objects found on beaches, and the intriguing reasons those objects have come to be there.
Explains how the coastlines of the Southern Hemisphere are interconnected.
Great for flicking through after beach walks.

Introduction
Looking After Our Beaches
Coastal Ocean Dynamics
Ocean Current Oddities
Beach Treasure
From the Shallows
From the Depths
Seabirds
Here Be Giants
Southern Connections
The Future of Southern Beaches
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index

View the full table of contents (PDF, 70 kb)

Authors

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.