Currents of Contrast: Life In Southern Africa's Two Oceans

About this book

Introduces the marine and coastal life associated with the oceans that surround Southern Africa. Two dominant currents feed these oceans, the cold Benguela in the West and the warmer Agulhas current in the East. The book is divided into two main parts, the first dealing with the colder waters of the Benguela and the second, with the realm of the Agulhas. A feature of the Benguela current is the water's most feared predator, the great white shark around which many myths abound. Also found here are rich forests of kelp that are nourished by the nutrient-rich waters; seabirds thrive on offshore islands and along the coast shoreline predators - jackals, lions and hyaenas - interestingly turn to the cold ocean for food along Namibia's desert coast. In the realm of the Agulhas (Southern and East coasts), the Knysna estuary and its threatened seahorse are introduced; the phenomena of the sardine run; to the Tembe Tonga people, a group that lives in careful harmony with the ocean, to timeless turtles and the enigmatic coelacanth - a fish that time forgot.

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Biography

Thomas P. Peschak, marine biologist, wildlife photographer, author and filmmaker works at the University of Cape Town's Marine Biology Research Institute and is currently completing his PhD. He is an experienced field biologist and research diver, who has worked on many scientific expeditions to remote corners of Africa, Central America, the Middle East and the South Pacific. After obtaining his B.Sc and M.Sc at Chile's Universidad Austral de Chile, Claudio Velasquez Rojas travelled to South Africa in the late 1980s. In 1993 he received a Ph.D in Zoology for his research on wading birds in the Berg River estuary. Claudio now works for Francois Odendaal Film Productions as a producer/director. His photographs have been published in magazines such as Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife and National Geographic and in books including The Last Edens of Africa and Aspects of Life.