[1] Writing in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, John Clute described "The Man Who Lost the Sea" as "strong, immeasurably complex, word-perfect and deeply fixative to the reader's memory".

The reader also learns of significant events in the boy's life, including his fascination with the Sputnik satellite and a near-drowning experience while swimming in the ocean.

Eventually, the reader is told that the boy and the sick man are the same person, an injured astronaut who is regaining consciousness after a crash landing on Mars.

"The Man Who Lost the Sea" appeared in two best-of-the-year anthologies—The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction (Ninth Series, 1960) and The Best American Short Stories, 1960,[3] as well as being reprinted in The Fifth Annual of the Year's Best SF (1960).

It also appears in three collections devoted to Sturgeon's work—The Golden Helix (1979), Selected Stories (2013) and The Man Who Lost the Sea (2013); the latter two are e-books.