Which species of sharks live within 500 nautical miles of North American shores, and what do we know about them? Jose I. Castro's The Sharks of North America is the first comprehensive book in sixty years to address these questions, and it does so with unrivaled authority and aesthetic detail.

The 135 comprehensive species accounts summarize the present knowledge. Each begins with the etymology of a species' common and scientific names, followed by the description, identifying characteristics, geographic range, biology, reproduction, location of nurseries, growth and longevity, and...