OCEAN PLANET

From plankton to polar bears, an artist’s gallery of animals familiar and exotic.

As in Hidden Planet and Sensational Butterflies (both 2021), Rothery supplies generous quantities of facts and comments about each of his subjects, but the obsessively detailed, photorealistic art easily takes pride of place. Aside from a map and one diagram showing oceanic zones, he sticks to portraits—each designed for individual examination, so not to scale even when a half-dozen or more share an oversized double-page spread, and generally placed against monochrome or minimally detailed backdrops. Though on occasion sheer technical proficiency gets the upper hand (the deep-sea anglerfish, for example, looks dried out, and the dragon moray eel is hard to distinguish from the coral behind it because depth of field has been sacrificed for visual dazzle), the lifelike poses and angles of view range from dramatic to, in the case of a blue-footed booby in a mating dance or a contemplative puffin, even comical. If his nature notes aren’t systematic or he’s not averse to wandering away from oceanic realms to slip in the occasional arbitrary-feeling land animal, viewers will still be hard put to look away from the pictures—or to miss out on his strong and contagious affinity for the creatures he portrays. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Informationally catch as catch can, but the visuals are as gorgeous as they come.