Dr. Eugenie Clark

• Q: When and where were you born?
• Q: When were your children born?
• Q: Are you married?
• Q: What is your favorite shark?
• Q: How many species of sharks are there?
• Q: Where is your favorite dive spot?
• Q: Are you afraid of sharks?
• Q: Were you afraid when you were caught by the giant crab?
• Q: Were you afraid when you the sub got caught on the ledge?
• Q: Did you ever solve the mystery of the sleeping sharks?
• Q: Did the shark jaw really bite you when you were driving in your car?
• Q: Have you made any new discoveries about sharks?
• Q: How big is a baby whale shark?
• Q: Why do sharks have layers of teeth?
• Q: Do you still visit the Crown Prince?
• Q: Do you like math?
• Q: When was your first underwater dive?
• Q: Is the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory still in Florida?
• Q: Did you ever make a shark repellant from the Moses sole toxin?

• Q: When and where were you born?
• A: I was born on May 4, 1922 in New York city.
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• Q: When were your children born?
• A:
  • My daughter, Hera, was born December 24, 1952.
  • My daughter, Aya, was born November 17, 1954
  • My son, Tak, was born May 25, 1956.
  • My son, Niki, was born October 20, 1958.
  • My grandson, Eli, was born December 27, 1990. Aya is his mother.
  
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• Q: Are you married?
• No, I married Henry Yoshinobu Kon on August 29, 1997, but he died on January 4, 2000.
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• Q: What is your favorite shark?
• A: It's hard to decide on a favorite shark because they are all so fascinating to me, but I really like whale sharks and sixgill sharks. I also like the lemon shark because I learned from this species that you can train sharks and that they have a memory.
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• Q: How many species of sharks are there?
• A: There are now over 370 species of sharks known.
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• Q: Where is your favorite dive spot?
• A: My favorite dive spots are the Red Sea and Papua New Guinea. I also enjoy diving in Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, and the Caribbean islands.
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• Q: Are you afraid of sharks?
• A: I have always been too intrigued and awed by sharks to be scared of them, but it's important to understand their behavior and to learn how to behave when you visit their home.
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• Q: Were you afraid when you were caught by the giant crab?
• A: I wasn't afraid when I was caught by the giant crab. I was just so amazed to think that I was being embraced by a crab! But I also knew I had to think positively and quickly to get myself free and get back up to the surface.
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• Q: Were you afraid when you the sub got caught on the ledge?
• A: In the sub, I was alarmed but not really afraid. I knew we had some time to spare, but I also knew we had to use our time to figure out the problem and not waste time being scared.
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• Q: Did you ever solve the mystery of the sleeping sharks?
• A: We still don't know if sharks sleep. We don't know if any fish sleeps in the sense that we sleep, i.e. sleep measured by an abrupt change in brain waves.
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• Q: Did the shark jaw really bite you when you were driving in your car?
• A: The shark jaw didn't really bite me. I slammed on the brakes and put my hand out to catch the jaw before it hit the dashboard, so I was accidentally cut by the teeth.

• Q: Have you made any new discoveries about sharks?
• A: One of the most exciting recent (July 1996) discoveries was a female whale shark caught in Taiwan with 300 embryos inside!
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• Q: How big is a baby whale shark?
• A: A baby whale shark is about 20 inches at birth, but the amazing thing about baby whale sharks is that a mother can give birth to about 300 at one time, the greatest number in a birth litter known of any shark. Most female sharks give birth to only a few babies at one time every few years.
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• Q: Why do sharks have layers of teeth?
• A: Sharks have layers of teeth so that if any are broken off, new sharp teeth can pop right in to replace them. Some sharks can replace their front teeth every two weeks. Sharks shed their teeth a lot, and that's why there are so many fossil teeth around. They can shed thousands of teeth over a lifetime and the teeth preserve well even when the rest of the shark decomposes.
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• Q: Do you still visit the Crown Prince?
• A: The Crown Prince is now the Emperor of Japan, and I have visited him several times in his palace in Tokyo.
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• Q: Do you like math?
• A: Yes, I love math, especially geometry. Math comes in very handy in marine biology and any other branch of science. I also love figuring out all kinds of puzzles.
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• Q: When was your first underwater dive?
• A: My first underwater dive was with a helmet in 1946 at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in southern California. My first SCUBA dive was in 1950 in the Red Sea.
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• Q: Is the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory still in Florida?
• A: The Cape Haze Marine Laboratory that I started in Sarasota, Florida is still active but is now known as the Mote Marine Laboratory. It's much bigger now, too, and has become a good public aquarium as well as a center for research. I often visit and give lectures there.
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• Q: Did you ever make a shark repellant from the Moses sole toxin?
• A: No. As far as I know, no one has made a shark repellant from the Moses sole toxin. It's better to understand shark behavior and to know how to behave when you visit them in their homes.