From an evolutionary point of view, sharks are older than trees; These powerful animals survived five periods of mass extinction, surpassing the dinosaurs in survival. Sharks are essential to maintaining the balance of marine and ocean ecosystems: they eat the remains of dead whales, remove diseased fish from populations, guard seaweed from turtles, and eat trash thrown into the ocean by humans. But what do we know about their lives? The first of its kind, the book draws on the latest scientific research and detailed studies of four shark species—the great white shark, the mako shark, the hammerhead shark and the tiger shark. Ocean conservation enthusiast William McKeever travels to shark habitats ranging from the coral reefs of the central Pacific, where groups of great white sharks gather each fall, and tropical mangrove forests, where young lemon sharks live in schools, to the cold waters of the North Atlantic, where 400-year-old Greenland polar sharks, long-lived record holders among vertebrates. He traces the evolution of the man-eating shark myth and describes the fatal consequences of overkill: shark attacks kill an average of four people a year, but humans kill 100 million sharks over the same period. McKeever's work is a dive into the mysteries of sharks and an urgent call to protect them. “This book is the culmination of my two-year journey, a tribute to sharks as amazing apex predators, hypersensitive mariners, man's best allies in the natural world. Thanks to new technologies that allow scientists and marine biologists around the world to observe sharks in completely new ways, in recent years we have made great strides in understanding these animals: their mysterious behavior, incredible migration routes, extraordinary social skills and even the secrets of their sex lives. It is quite possible that sharks will become the key to understanding the mysteries of the oceans.” (William McKeever)