Book Review: The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean’s Most Fearsome Predators by John Long

Author: Jack Cooper

Are you, or perhaps your animal-loving child, interested in the most iconic marine predators: the sharks? Do you want to understand how or why these famous fish have lasted as long as they have, surviving every major mass extinction, and diversifying into all sorts of shapes and sizes? Then look no further than John Long’s new popular science book: “The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean’s Most Fearsome Predators.”

Long, a highly renowned palaeontologist with decades of research and experience, opens the book with a tense personal story: how he almost died searching for shark fossils while on expedition in Antarctica, perhaps the last place you’d expect to find fossil sharks. From this springboard, he takes us on a journey through time, told through the remarkable fossils left behind by long extinct sharks. Ranging from the tiny placoid scales of Tantalepis, 465 million years old and possibly being the oldest remains of a shark known, all the way to the enormous hand-sized teeth of the iconic megalodon. Long leaves no stone unturned in the extraordinary evolutionary history of sharks. In particular, he reveals remarkable adaptations – or “superpowers” – of sharks that served as key twists in their story to success, from their incredible sense of smell to the ampullae of Lorenzini that allow them to detect electrical impulses, to extinct sharks reaching gigantic sizes over 300 million years ago. 

Portalodus

He tells this story in immaculate detail using multiple threads intertwined within a singular narrative. The first of these is the fossils themselves, showcased through wonderful pictures often taken by Long himself and forming stories from his many excavations or professional visits around the world. The second is the use of palaeoartistic reconstructions of prehistoric scenes of these sharks swimming or eating, brought to life beautifully by Julius Csotonyi and other artists. By combining these recreations with continental drift maps of what our world looked like millions of years ago, and hypothetical scenes devised by Long behind some of the highlighted fossils, it’s easy to become immersed in the ancient world of these sharks, all while learning about the data-driven science that informs these scenes.

Artist's render of Megalodon breaching Credit: Julius Csotonyi

Perhaps the most essential tool used by Long in this story of sharks is the human touch. When one thinks of their favourite shark facts, it’s easy to forget which scientists were responsible for discovering that fact. As such, Long takes time in the book to discuss the life stories of the scientists who found the most significant shark fossils or brought the most exciting science behind them to the world. Some of the most memorable stories include not just Long’s adventures, but also a cross-continental heist and detective story of how David Ward of London’s Natural History Museum recovered a stolen Helicoprion specimen. You leave the book not only with expert-informed knowledge of sharks, but also a real sense of who the scientists are, from the eclectic Bashford Dean to Dr Catalina Pimiento, the modern world “queen of the megalodons” as Long describes. Even I, the author of this very review, get a brief mention in the book for my research on megalodon. 

Helicoprion at the National History Museum

Although the book focuses heavily on fossil sharks, Long also dedicates two chapters at the end towards the sharks of today after highlighting the rise of living sharks from as far back as the Jurassic period. These chapters specifically focus on the great white shark, the most famous of today’s sharks, and on how humans are driving sharks to extinction. With overfishing halving shark populations over the last fifty years, driving over one-third of species towards extinction, Long draws parallels between today’s threats versus how sharks have survived major mass extinction events in the past. Patterns emerge in the fossil record that can be seen in today’s crisis even with human overfishing as an unprecedented threat never faced by ancient sharks. Ultimately, the book emphasises how the understanding of previous shark extinctions and the effects on the ecosystem could be key to understanding what might lie ahead for today’s sharks and inform conservationists how we might act to protect sharks.  

White Shark Credit: John Long

The secret history of sharks is more than a guide through ancient sharks of the past. It is a love letter to, and a passionate call for preservation of, these extraordinary animals. By highlighting the fossil and living species, and their range of successful superpowers, Long showcases their diversity and resilience, and even their surprising contributions to human culture, throughout their long, long time here on Earth. Most importantly, he spotlights their ecological importance to our oceans today and throughout natural history. This highly accessible book will not only fill the appetite of those who want to feast on all the shark science they can sink their teeth into, but also enlighten readers with why sharks are so key to the survival of our oceans and indeed our planet.  

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Professor John Long for providing me with images from the book and their appropriate credits for this review. I further thank him for allowing me to host him at Blackwells in Edinburgh and pick his brains about this book while it was on tour in the UK.

You can buy the book in your local bookstore, order it on Amazon, or even listen to it on Audible, read by John himself.