(Part 2) Best products from r/marinebiology

Loving the feedback--thank you! I've also found a couple of highly rated books regarding observations on cetacean intelligence and social structure:

Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226503410/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Za1YxbZZHJTBV

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins https://www.amazon.com/dp/022632592X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Kf1YxbNSC7VFD

I would consider pvc tubes or some other plastic tubes instead of wood. I think it will be easier to attach and will survive better in the water. I might try zip tying the tubes or dowels to your masonry nails. That way you can put the nails further into the wall. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XUYJZBI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_3tgnzbGR27M18

This book was absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/Kraken-Curious-Exciting-Slightly-Disturbing/dp/0810984652

...if you like squid. I'm a squid scientist so I'm a bit biased.

Spineless - breath taking photos of marine invertebrates. Trust me she'll adore it.

It is probably out of print. That and it has a lot of illustrations and photos. BTW, books like this get much more expensive.

Corals of the World

Reef Fishes of the East Indies

Both are amazing books and the second is even still in print.

"Hey, I'll tell you what. You can get a good look at a butcher's ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn't you rather to take his word for it?"
Just kidding, something like this could be very satisfying on a budget of about $75. I don't think you would want to go much cheaper.

I have a peer/colleague at my research institution who is a marine biologist and made a book just for kids like him. It’s called squidtoons and I highly recommend it! You can buy it here: [squidtoons](Squidtoons: Exploring Ocean Science with Comics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449490247/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PPL.Bb4TQ8AM4)

for pants duluth makes some good lightweight quick-dry pants with a webbed belt and tons of pockets http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/mens/mens-pants/59311.aspx
I understand these are mens pants but just to give you an idea of what I like to wear. As for foot wear, dive booties for in the mud, or these http://www.amazon.com/Nevados-Mens-Kariba-Sandal-Brown/dp/B00144EWOQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1397612072&sr=8-5&keywords=nevado+shoes

Extreme Life of the Sea by Stephen Palumbi (Director of Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station) is a great look at how marine animals live in extreme environments and is written for lay audiences

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691169810/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_JzCCybXYEDGPR

For fish, I really like this one!

Good book here: http://www.amazon.com/Sharks-American-Waters-Natural-History/dp/0890961433/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1407304285&sr=8-6&keywords=sharks+of+north+america

I like this one: National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World (National Audubon Society Field Guides (Hardcover)) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375411410/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RLXYxbTJKM858

Citizens of the Sea by Nancy Knowlton

[The Deep: Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss] (http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Extraordinary-Creatures-Abyss/dp/0226595668/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418882769&sr=1-1&keywords=deep+sea+photography) by Claire Nouvian

[Ocean Soul] (http://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Soul-Brian-Skerry/dp/1426208162/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418882836&sr=1-7&keywords=underwater+photography+books) by Brian Skerry

The Knowlton and Nouvian books are both direct offshoots of scientific research projects, so they have more information. Skerry takes stunning photos, but he's not a scientist.

It's been open season for them for years. The lionfish cookbook has been out since 2010.

https://www.amazon.com/Biology-Sharks-Rays-Peter-Klimley/dp/0226442497

There is a ridiculous book written about a monstrous-sized one attacking a sea-side Canadian town. I recommend the book if you accept the absurd premise and if you can find a copy in the library.

https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Legs-Piers-Anthony/dp/0312864655

You're getting a bit carried away. Nobody here except OP has seen the actual thing and the photo quality is too poor to tell whether or not that's a screw or a blob of bird shit or some other scum. As for the "flaking paint" - that's a highlight, just like you can see on the flipper. As for the caudal fluke, the right half is foreshortened because it's flexible and being bent into the sand; it doesn't look cracked at all. Edit: and even if it did, upon early dessication dolphin skin begins to crack and exfoliate like this dolphin in a more advanced state of decay. As for the cloth pattern, cetaceans have thick skin that has a series of fibers running in opposite directions for added strength during swimming (like this); the flipside of having a thick layer of connective tissue over the blubber is that everything else - muscles, blubber, viscera - decompose faster than the integument. It's actually fairly common for stranded cetaceans to have more or less intact looking skin, but much of the internal soft tissues around the skull (usually where decomposition advances quickest - around the mouth) will be turned into goo (which leaks out on a floating carcass, or pools up in a stranded carcass). Edit: here's a reference for these statements.. As for the bite marks, this is just how cetacean skin tends to behave when bitten by sharks or other marine mammals; if the initial bite can puncture the skin, the teeth travel easily through blubber making relatively deep but narrow incisions. The depth will be similar whether attacked by a shark or another cetacean.

Also: if it were fiberglass, fiberglass is usually done very thinly and for a mount this size almost certainly would be less than 5mm in thickness. There's no reason the skull would be left inside, and the fact that the hyoid apparatus is in articulation speaks to the authenticity of the carcass.

Here's a very similar (but fresher) carcass with identical wound over pan bone of mandible, but with less tooth-raking scars.

Source: I am a paleocetologist who has visited a number of strandings and dissections, and read most of the known literature on marine mammal decomposition.

Edit: Why am I getting downvoted? There's no way this is a fiberglass sculpture. I've seen plenty of strandings and this is a real carcass. If you disagree, please state your argument.