33 Facts About Eugenie Clark

Eugenie Clark, popularly known as The Shark Lady, was an American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behavior and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes.

Eugenie Clark was born and raised in New York City.

Eugenie Clark attended elementary school in Woodside, Queens, and graduated from Bryant High School in Queens, New York.

Eugenie Clark was the only student of Japanese descent in her schools.

From an early age, Eugenie Clark was passionate about marine science, with many of her school reports covering topics in marine biology.

The work of naturalist William Beebe further inspired Eugenie Clark to become an oceanographer.

Eugenie Clark received a Bachelor of Arts in zoology from Hunter College.

Eugenie Clark initially sought to attend graduate school at Columbia University, but her application was rejected out of fear that she would eventually choose to leave her scientific career in order to focus on raising children.

Undaunted, Eugenie Clark went on to earn both a Master of Arts and Doctorate of Zoology from New York University.

In 1949, under an Office of Naval Research program to undertake scientific research in Micronesia, Eugenie Clark carried out fish population studies in Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Palau islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands.

At the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, Eugenie Clark worked with a local fisherman named Beryl Chadwick, who was experienced in catching sharks.

Earle assisted Eugenie Clark in creating a herbarium by depositing duplicate specimens into the laboratory's reference collection.

In 1962, Eugenie Clark participated in the Israel South Red Sea Expedition, which set up a camp on one of the Eritrean islands of the Dahlak Archipelago.

Eugenie Clark's studies focused not only on sharks but on other, mainly large, pelagic species.

In 1966, Eugenie Clark left Cape Haze for a faculty position at the City University of New York.

Eugenie Clark officially retired from the University of Maryland in 1999 but taught one class in the zoology department each semester for several years.

Eugenie Clark returned to the Cape Haze Laboratory, now renamed the Mote Marine Laboratory, in 2000.

Eugenie Clark worked there as Senior Scientist, Director Emerita, and Trustee until her death in Sarasota, Florida, of lung cancer on February 25,2015.

Eugenie Clark was an active researcher and diver throughout her entire life, conducting her last dive in 2014 and publishing its results in January 2015, with additional research still undergoing review at the time of her death.

Eugenie Clark was married five times, the first four ending in divorce: Jideo Umaki from 1942 to 1947, Ilias Themistokles Konstantinu from 1950 to 1967, writer Chandler Brossard from 1967 to 1969, and Igor Klatzo in 1970.

Eugenie Clark was married to Henry Yoshinobu Kon from 1997 to his suicide in 2000.

Eugenie Clark authored two books, Lady with a Spear and The Lady and the Sharks, as well as over 175 scientific articles.

Eugenie Clark was the subject of several books, including Shark Lady and Adventures of the Shark Lady by Ann McGovern.

Eugenie Clark was an avid supporter of marine conservation and many of her popular publications and public appearances focused on dispelling assumptions about shark behavior and intelligence in an effort to prevent the killing of sharks and encourage the preservation of marine environments.

Eugenie Clark discovered that the Moses sole produces a natural shark repellent, which has since been employed by researchers aiming to prevent harmful interactions between sharks and humans.

Eugenie Clark documented these "sleeping" sharks were slowly pumping water over their gills with weak muscles.

Eugenie Clark noticed that the cave these sharks were found in had above average oxygen dissolved in the water, in which Clark hypothesized that it made it easier to breathe and potentially provide a narcotic effect on the sharks.

Over her decades of research, Eugenie Clark conducted over 70 submersible dives and led more than 200 field research expeditions around the world.

Eugenie Clark worked on 24 television specials and helped create the first IMAX film.

Eugenie Clark has been inducted into both the Florida Women's Hall of Fame and the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.

Eugenie Clark was the 1987 recipient in the Science category of a NOGI, which is awarded annually by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences and is the oldest, and considered to be the most prestigious award in the diving world.

Eugenie Clark has received accolades from the National Geographic Society, the Explorers Club, the Underwater Society of America, the American Littoral Society, the Women Divers Hall of Fame, the American Society of Oceanographers.

Eugenie Clark has been written about in many books, including The Shark Lady, by Ann McGovern.