Corals Of The World Slipcover Volume 1, 2, 3 Jen Veron

Though published in the early 2000's, this is still the most comprehensive taxonomic reference for global coral species that I have been able to locate. This would be a large encyclopedia if published as a single tome, so I enjoyed having the three separate volumes as a more manageable task to carry around. Veron begins with a few introductory chapters, then walks readers through key Families and their genera before finishing with some discussion chapters. This took me months to get through because there is so much here. Though there is an impressive collection of large color photographs on every page, these volumes are too large and heavy to be any sort of field guide.