The Shark Lady: Dr. Eugenie Clark

No matter how many sharks you’ve seen in your time, the experience of encountering one of these magnificent animals is always an exciting one. For Dr. Eugenie Clark, an ichthyologist born in 1922, sharks are like part of the family – and thanks to the wealth of knowledge she has amassed with regard to these creatures, many people around the world have begun to gain better understanding about the important role they play in ocean environments everywhere. Here, we’ll take a brief look at the exciting life and many achievements of Eugenie Clark, a famous diver dubbed the “Shark Lady.” 

A Cutting-edge Scientist and Pioneer in SCUBA for Research 

Born in New York City, Eugenie Clark learned to swim before she reached the age of two, and as she got older, her interest in marine life grew by leaps and bounds. By the 1940’s, Clark was on her way to an incredible career, despite ongoing hostility toward those of Japanese descent, and despite rampant sexism. Among her many groundbreaking discoveries, she was the first person ever to develop a technique for creating test-tube offspring in female fish. She went on to become a pioneer in SCUBA diving for research, and a world-famous scientist.

Over the years, Eugenie served as a research assistant at La Jolla’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. She spent time working at the Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and at Bimini’s Lerner Marine Laboratory. Clark worked at the New York Zoological Society, and between 1955 and 1967, she served as the founding director of Sarasota’s Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, which is now a leading shark research center called Mote Marine Laboratory.  She is still affiliated with the laboratory today. Her many studies on the behavior and intelligence of sharks earned her the popular nickname, “Shark Lady”. 

Having studied the taxonomy, behavior, and ecology of fishes for more than fifty years, Dr. Clark’s research has been supported by NOAA, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institute. She has received numerous awards and is part of the Women Divers Hall of Fame. In addition, several species of fish have been named in her honor. 

Clark has been diving with sharks for over forty years, and is responsible for the discovery of the Moses Sole’s secretions, which act as a shark repellent. Throughout the course of her treks around the world, she has carried the National Geographic Society flag to Israel, Egypt, Mexico, Japan, and Australia. She has borne the flag of the Society of Women Geographers to Ethiopia, Japan, and Egypt, and she has penned numerous articles relaying her adventures and sharing the results of her scientific research with like-minded people all over the planet. In addition, she has written books for adults and children, and has been featured on television shows and in scientific journals.

Having logged countless dives, including 71 deep dives in a submersible, she continues to explore the underwater world today. Her studies focusing on the behavior of deep-sea sharks and tropical sand fishes were featured in a series of twelve articles she wrote for National Geographic magazine. We admire not only her tenacity in the face of naysayers early on in her career, but also her ability to capture and share information that is leading the way toward a world where sharks are better understood.