Sharks: Ancient Predators in a Modern Sea

by Salvador Jorgensen

New insights into the world's most-feared predator. Sharks are exquisite creatures refined and honed by competitive forces that have lived in balance with ocean prey for millions of years. They live in every ocean habitat on Earth, from shallow tide pools to the deep abyss, and from the open ocean to where rivers meet the sea. In Sharks a top research scientist explores what has made sharks such successful predators, how they differ from other animals in their biological success and what unique advantages evolution has conferred. Sharks is illustrated with uniquely sourced photography demonstrating newly observed behavior, scientific findings and recent developments in our understanding of how they live. Sharks is both a spectacular visual celebration, and a scientific document that explores in detail their unique physiology. A powerful swimming stroke is delivered from sharks' muscles directly to their tough skin shell forcing their body to "inflate" like a car tire with each flex, then quickly become fluid to glide as the muscles relax. By diving through the various water layers, a shark may locate and follow chemical scent trails that could lead to food concentrations. Thus a shark moving from one temperature layer to the next can expose its sensory equipment to new chemical cues and potentially new food sources. Some deep-sea sharks also lure prey with their light-producing organs. Salvador Jorgensen has combined the latest discoveries of new species, newly-documented shark behavior, and the best photographs, to give a "state-of-knowledge" picture of sharks. Unique pictures of shark births, recently discovered creatures from the Ocean Census research, and details of sharks' skin, eyes, teeth and heads (including a comparison of nine different hammerhead varieties) make this a book every shark enthusiast will want. It will also debunk many myths about shark behavior, and give readers a true, 21st-century documentation of a very popular wild animal. Sharks features illustrated profiles of species living in the shallow reefs and also those living in the open ocean along with a unique "cladogram" family tree that opens into a gatefold and profiles every known species.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2013

Reviews

[RKanimalkingdom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book turned out to be more interesting and engaging than I initially gave it credit for. It's a fascinating book that gives many new and insightful information about sharks. Not to mention that the author, Salvador Jorgensen included many beautiful photographs of various shark species that really felt like I was being shown a new perspective on these creatures. So many questions I had jumbling eternally around my head about sharks were answered so succinctly in this book. And I also learned new things about sharks from this book. It's more science heavy but put in a way such that anyone can come in and learn. I also like how Jorgensen compared the plight of sharks to humans, i.e the finning of a sharks fins is akin to a human having their arms and legs hacked off while alive only to then be dumped into the ocean to die.

It's a book I highly recommend to any shark/animal enthusiast.

[Ariel Chu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely awesome to explain the biology, strategy, and behavior of sharks with great picture illustration. Fascinating!

[Therese Brink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This copiously illustrated book on sharks is written for the educated non-scientist.

The book is divided into five sections: the diversity of sharks, life histories, form and function, strategies and behaviors, and threats and hopes.

[alexander shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very big book with very big, sometimes double-page spread photos. That was mostly what I was picking the book up for, but the information provided in it is useful too. The text isn't full page so it's not like reading a textbook where it takes forever to get through a page. Despite being around 400 pages or so, I flipped pages quite quickly. The balance of photo to text is very good, and the general language level is pretty accessible for those new to sharks. Not much was new to me, between all the other books I've read and the date of publication, but it's a good starting point to learn about sharks; it covers some of the different species, what they have in common and different from each other, reproduction, habitat, diet, etc, and has a section on protection/conservation.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book of photos and knowledge. Its fascinating!

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got it as a gift, loved every page of it. I am not a scientist or a shark specialist, just an amateur, who is very interested in these misunderstood creatures.
I recommend it to anyone, who wants to learn more about sharks, but doesn't really know where to start. 5/5 stars