This excellent and very readable book sits next to standard deep-sea texts by Tyler, Gage, VanDover and Marshall on my shelf. Peter Herring is one of the most respected pelagic deep-sea biologist in the UK. I get the feeling that this book is a synthesis of the lecture series that he delivered at the University of Cambridge over the last 20 or so years. I have used it as a framework for a 2nd year Biological Oceanography module and have found that each chapter is a great platform for a single session.

It is an ideal text book for an undergraduate course but also a fantastic introduction to deep-sea biology to anyone encountering the field for the first time.