Icons and oddities

A natural history of shark life

THE ENDURING HUMAN FASCINATION with sharks is well expressed and explained in this book, among the first in a series from Princeton University Press. The authors, shark biologists with more than 30 years’ experience each, present their considerable expertise in a colloquial and highly readable way, covering a broad cross-section of familiar and iconic species as well as those less well known.

The book examines the 450-million-year evolutionary history of sharks and the ways in which they have changed or stayed the same. It looks at the great diversity of shapes, sizes, lifestyles, behaviours, habitats and ecological roles of the 540-odd extant species. Along the way, it overturns stereotypes: whereas most people think of large, sleek, grey species such as great whites and tiger sharks as typical, these are in fact ‘oddballs’; a typical shark is actually a small, brown, uncharismatic deep-sea dweller.

Eight chapters cover evolution and diversity; adaptations; ecology; and sharks of the open ocean, deep sea, rivers and estuaries, and continental shelves. The final chapter, Sharks and Us, examines threats to sharks – such as overfishing, ocean warming, by-catch, pollution and ghost nets – and how these can be mitigated.

Within each chapter are two-page profiles of selected species, giving the scientific name, family, notable features, size and what the species predates upon, as well as selected details such as behaviour, habitat and reproduction. The IUCN status of the species is often noted, and a habitat distribution map is included. Throughout the book, breakout boxes offer digestible bites of wide-ranging information, such as shark attack statistics, biomedical applications of shark products and evidence that individual sharks have personalities.

The book is richly illustrated. The many striking photographs include two sharks feeding on a bait ball in breaking ocean waves off Western Australia; a possibly pregnant tiger shark undergoing a sonogram at sea; the photophores of a bioluminescing pygmy shark; and a hammerhead giving the photographer the side-eye. Rarely seen behaviours and incidents are also captured, such as sharks mating and a newborn lemon shark still trailing its umbilical cord. In addition, clear diagrams explain diverse facets of shark biology, ecology and behaviour in an easy-to-grasp way.

The book’s structure and design encourage and reward browsing. Any reader is sure to find something of interest in a randomly selected page, including details of odd and surprising behaviours, such as the intrauterine cannibalism practised by some species, and that parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) has been observed in various species of captive aquarium sharks. This work is an excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in marine life and will certainly contribute to the authors’ stated aim of encouraging people to ‘appreciate, understand and protect’ these magnificent and often maligned creatures.

Reviewer Janine Flew is the museum’s Publications Officer and the editor of Signals

The Lives of Sharks

By

Daniel C Abel and R Dean Grubbs, published by Princeton University Press, 2023. Hardcover, 288 pages, illustrations, glossary, resources, index.

ISBN 9780691244310

RRP $60.00 Vaughan Evans

Library 597.31 ABE