Wilderness Coast

As owner of a biological supply house, Rudloe (The Sea Holds Forth, etc.) makes his living collecting and studying marine organisms in the waters off Florida's Gulf Coast. The ocean and the wetlands of the area, largely unexplored, contain many exotic and beautiful creatures, and the author's adventures there make exciting reading. He gathers electric rays (fish that can deliver strong electric shocks), tracks baby horseshoe crabs, makes friends with octopuses, saves loggerhead turtles from the dredging operations of the Army Corps of Engineers, captures giant toadfish and monster sea roaches for the New York Aquarium, fights alligators and searches for crocodiles. A conservationist, he respects the sea and is captivated by its mysterious inhabitants. He describes in vivid detail a world that few of us will ever experience firsthand. Illustrations not seen by PW. (April)