This is a collection of stories about the little-known world of the Palk Bay along the southern Indian coast of Tamil Nadu documented by Aarthi Sridhar. Like its neighboring region, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Bay hosts intriguing plants and animals in its shallow waters. Over hundreds of years, a fascinating range of cultural practices around the use of these marine creatures have gradually emerged, which are rarely found in scientific studies, and await fuller exploration and appreciation. These vignettes provide an insight into human and marine life in this area, and hope to inspire a curiosity about the ecological knowledge of this region’s varied fisher communities.