![Dr. Eugenie Clark, The Shark Lady, 1959 [200x150, 7.3K]](http://www.cephalopodcast.com/img/pic/pic_070504_MoteEugenie.jpg "Dr. Eugenie Clark, The Shark Lady, 1959")
Today is the 85th birthday of Dr. Eugenie Clark. Better know as the Shark Lady, Genie is also the founder of Mote Marine Laboratory. The local paper has a retrospective of her career.
The “Shark Lady” has been diving into waters around the world and making landmark contributions to marine science for some 50 years.
But whether she was discovering a hermaphrodite belted sandfish near New Pass, riding on the backs of whale sharks in Mexico or teaching the emperor of Japan to snorkel off the coast of Miami, Clark has always returned to a small waterfront laboratory in Sarasota.
It is where a young mother with a doctorate in zoology and no idea how to hunt a shark got her start. Clark is now permanently back at Mote Marine Laboratory, which will host an 85th birthday party for its director emerita and senior scientist this evening.
- Wikipedia: Eugenie Clark
- Mote Magazine biography
- Press Release: Birthday Bash at Mote for Genie, 5/4/2007
- Read about her recent research on the odd behavior of Pholidichthys leucotaenia, the convict fish
- Amazon: Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark
- Amazon: Fish Watching With Eugenie Clark
Disclosure: See my previous entry on Mote.
Jason Robertshaw
genie is the reason i got into marine biology… while it was her sexy work with sharks that caught my initial interest (i ultimately ended-up finding more interest in stinging inverts than toothy vertebrates), it was her down to earth, plain-spoken scientist persona that maintained my interest and respect…
happy birthday, shark lady!
and thanks, Cephalopodcast, for honoring this woman!
Belated Happy Birthday! Every year, I read the two books written by Ann McGovern to my first graders. They LOVE hearing about you and your adventures! I don’t know if any of them will grow up to be ichthyologists, but they develop an interest in sharks and we learn more about them. May you have many more interesting dives!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures under the seas.
First Graders
Candalaria Elem School
Salem, OR