Shadows In The Sea: The Sharks, Skates, And Rays - Hardcover

McCormick, Harold Weber; Allen, Thomas B; Young, William Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1258470411 ISBN 13: 9781258470418

Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC, 2012

Synopsis

Captain Young and I for some years have been gathering material from all over the world about the Selachians—the Sharks, Skates, Rays, and their allies —of which there are more than 600 known species. We originally intended merely to up-date Captain Young's book ''Shark!! Shark!!'''' (published by Gotham House in 1934, and now a collector's item), but, as the material ever expanded, it was decided that an entirely new book, covering a much broader field, was needed. Adaterial was collected from all over the world for many years. When Captain Young and I felt that the research was nearly completed, we called upon Tom Allen, an experienced newspaperman, to aid us in transforming the research material into a book. Tom and I continued the research up to (and beyond!) the completion of the manuscript. Tom also did further research and added new material in the course of writing the book. In all scientific classifications, the Selachians are separated clearly from the Teleosteans, or Bony Fishes, and there are even leading ichthyologists \\ ho do not regard the former as fishes at all but rather as representing a separate and distinct Class of animal life...

About this title

Review:

Nothing puts quite the same tingling fear in swimmers, surfers, and divers--especially in the quarter century since Peter Benchley's novel Jaws conquered the bestseller charts--as the thought that a shark might be plying its course somewhere in the murky deep below. Thomas Allen plays on that fear in the opening pages of Shadows in the Sea with a strangely entertaining compendium of shark attacks on humans over the centuries. (The humans get their licks in, however, in the pages that follow, in which Allen recounts the exploits of William Young, an Ahab who chased sharks around the world.) Allen goes on to describe the ways in which scientists have attempted to understand the ways of sharks and their selachian kin, the skates and rays; looks at the place of the shark in the world's folklore and cuisine; and examines the commercial shark-fishing industry. His useful book closes with a species-by-species account of the world's principal shark types, from the 6-inch dogfish to the 20-foot great blue shark. Allen does a fine job of giving his readers an idea of the many ways these frightening but fragile denizens of the sea live their lives--and he provides plenty of anecdotes to disturb a beachgoer's dreams. --Gregory McNamee

From the Back Cover:

This much praised book is perhaps the most thorough and most readable guide to the sharks of the world, to shark attacks, and to the natural history of these fearsome creatures and their cousin-species, the skates and rays.Long out of print, this edition of Shadows in the Sea has been fully updated by the author. (6 X 9, 368 pages, b&w photos, illustrations, charts)

About this edition

• Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1258470411
• ISBN 13: 9781258470418
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 430