Top products from r/marinebiology

YES!

The textbook I was taught from when taking Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity during undergrad. I still have the copy I bought (6th edition). It's really well written, easy enough to understand, and fairly well organized. It's strengths are in explaining the phylogenetic differences between similar clades and our current understanding of how evolution of the invertebrates occurred.

Here's a fun one on cetaceans. I love this book more than anything!

I tried finding something similar for fish and found this... the pictures seem awesome.

This one is a bit more wordy... but still encyclopedia format, which is simple, easy, and straightforward. Your niece can find one she likes and read about it.

Maybe something like Eyewitness Ocean would work. I loved the Eyewitness videos and books as a kid and they’ve held up pretty well!. I know you didn’t ask for videos, but here’s a link to the Eyewitness episode on oceans to give you an idea of the content the books and videos may have if you aren’t familiar with them. I watch the videos sometimes as an adult and still find I can learn things from them!

Edit: forgot to mention, the book covers everything from plate tectonics to plankton. I remember it being pretty comprehensive as a kid

It isn't strictly marine bio, but The Wave is a good book about some legendary surfers and the science of rogue waves. The Ocean of Life is another good one by Callum Roberts, and Four Fish takes a critical look at four popular fish that humans rely on.

By Jacques Cousteau's grandson Fabian, I remember going through it for hours. It's not a kids book though (see first review), so I'd only get it if he's an advanced reader and super passionate.

https://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Worlds-Last-Wilderness-Revealed/dp/0756636922

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

This is actually a great coloring book with lots of good information:

https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Biology-Coloring-Book-Second/dp/006273718X

"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.

Growing up, I was always a huge fan of the eyewitness series of books. I think they're about the right age group too. They have a fish and oceans one.

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

http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Biology-Coloring-Second-Edition/dp/006273718X

Its a must have. I still use it and it was my marine bio text book in highschool. Its actually really entertaining and more in depth than you would think.

For fish, I really like this one!

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.

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

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

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.