Mysteries of the Deep

Sure, you probably know that two-thirds of our planet is covered with water, but you might not know that 90 percent of this water is more than two miles deep, making the deep ocean the predominant habitat for life—and Water perhaps a better name for this world than Earth. In 1996, I wrote and illustrated a book about the little-known creatures of the abyss. At the time, so few decent photographs existed that I actually had to draw various fishes, squids, octopuses, jellyfishes,sharks, and whales. Now The Deep, a coffee-table-size book edited by French film director Claire Nouvian (University of Chicago Press, $45), makes my little volume all but obsolete.