The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss

This is a superb book that I can recommend without hesitation - a large-format coffee-table-type book replete with full-page photos of remarkable creatures, ranging from tiny radiolarians to siphonophores longer than blue whales. It's more of a picture book than a reading book; most of the text consists of captions for the photos. If your impression of jellyfish has been derived only from looking at the sorry specimens rotting on a beach, this book will be a breath of fresh air.

The book is available from Amazon, but is expensive. Your library will probably have several copies; the waiting list at ours was only a couple weeks. Log on to your library's website and get on the list now, because otherwise you will probably never see Vampiroteuthis infernalis (The Vampire Squid From Hell) and the other amazing creatures (they live too deep to survive in aquaria).

p.s. - many similar photos at THIS LINK - especially the jellies, but also the vampire squid and Dumbo and others to whet your appetite for the book...