First New Zealand shores are systematically described in their regional detail, with the addition of material from 25 years' investigation, particularly in the subtidal zone. Then with a broader brush follows a comparative account of the equivalent hard shores, with their biogeography, around the entire Pacific Rim. The final chapter culminates with an account of the coral shores of the tropical Pacific, based first on the atoll of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, easily reached from New Zealand and still - for the present at least - unspoiled.