SECRET LANGUAGES OF THE SEA
ISBN: 059509497X

This book explores the complex network of communications between the many different creatures of the sea from those with minimal intelligence to those we consider perhaps the most intelligent. Burgess combines his knowledge of animals in the sea and his own remarkable experiences with sound scientific research to provide readers with an intimate look at how many marine creatures communicate. Ever think there was a fish with luminous eyes that can wink a kind of personal Morse code to another of his species at night? Well, he can and does and his common name is the "Flashlight Fish" which readers investigate with the author at depth in the middle of the night. Ever wonder what dolphins talk about and how they do it? He tells you what and how. "To say I was immersed in Secret Languages of the Sea is not enough; it opens up new vistas in the area of species communications and assures that its readers will never again take lightly the miracles of underwater communication. -- The Midwest Book Review. 245 pages. Paperback 6 x 9-inches. © 1989/2000 Published by iUniverse.com.

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The underwater world is a network of complex communications between its creatures, which are only recently being understood by scientists. Visible sound patterns have been developed to classify and interpret the grunts, croaks, pops, snaps, and drum beats emitted by inhabitants of the deep. Some messages are conveyed through vivid color changes, others by posturings of ruffled fins and arched bodies, while creatures without ears receive vibrations on sensors that line their bodies. These communications serve every eventuality of life, from courtship or identification to warning or navigation.

In this fascinating volume, Robert F. Burgess brings his knowledge of the underwater world to an inquiry into the many mysteries and bizarre methods used by marine creatures without vocal chords to transmit information to others, and interprets what is signified. Ever think there was a fish with luminous eyes that can wink a kind of personal Morse code to another of his species at night? Well, he can and does and his common name is the "Flashlight Fish" which readers investigate with the author at depth in the middle of the night. Ever wonder what dolphins talk about and how they do it? He tells you what and how. Together with a revelation of the complexity of life beneath the sea is the story of the scientists who have learned what little we know about this phenomenon of the deep and who may determine whether indeed man and marine mammal will be able eventually to exchange freely abstract ideas. Robert F. Burgess details it all in text, photographs and detailed line drawings.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE
1. Things That Go Bump in the Night
2. Body Language
3. Silent Messages from Inner Space
4. Solving the Secrets of Sharks
5. How to Meet a Mermaid
6. The Talkative Killers
7. Listening to Leviathans
8. Mammals That See Sound
9. Dolphins at Large
10. Communicating with Dolphins
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

FROM THE BOOK:

    "Communication between cleaner and the client is often so subtle that it involves little more than a gentle nudge or a color change. If a cleaner wants to get under a fin a client is holding too close to its body, a gentle nudge from the cleaner and the client will lift the fin. Similarly, persuasive probings by the cleaner will induce a client to opens its mouth for servicing. Indeed, it sometimes seems that the client fish actually slips into a kind of comatose rapture as it floats motionless, often at a peculiar angle, turning on its side, standing on its head, or even turning completely upside down - all for the sake of making itself more easily accessible to the diligent cleaner. Watching this phenomenon, one gets some idea of the kind of influence the tiniest of creatures hold over some of the ocean's largest denizens."

A REVIEW:

"To say I was immersed in Secret Languages of the Sea is not enough; it opens up new vistas in the area of species communications and assures that its readers will never again take lightly the miracles of underwater communication."
—The Midwest Book Review

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© 2000,2001 Robert F. Burgess.  All rights reserved.