The story provides a firsthand account of underwater naturalist and veterinarian Dr Chris Harvey-Clark's many diving research adventures with sharks, torpedo rays, endangered Northern Right Whales and other charismatic megafauna in Canadian waters. The book is loaded with fascinating biological discoveries and anecdotes featuring the secret lives of aquatic animals and tells the story of a burgeoning passion for marine species and undersea exploration.

From early experiences as a marine biologist and commercial diver to later, first-ever studies with Greenland sharks, torpedo rays, beavers and ultimately Great White sharks in Canadian waters, Chris gives you an immersive look at the unique animals and people encountered in Canada's three oceans, as global warming changes the invisible underwater world that surrounds us.

Chris Harvey-Clark is a research veterinarian and marine biologist based at Dalhousie University. He has ongoing research on the biology of the Greenland shark and the Atlantic torpedo ray. He produced Eastern Tidepool and Reef, the first photo-illustrated guide to North Atlantic marine life in Canada, which sold more than 10,000 copies. In 2003 he was principal author of the Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines on the use of fish in research, teaching and testing, the first regulatory publication to recognize the ability of fish to feel pain and be subject to moral concern. He is actively involved in endangered marine species research ranging from sea otters and Atlantic whitefish to blue whales and leatherback sea turtles. In his second career as an underwater image maker, he has been director of photography in more than 50 marine-themed documentaries. Chris published the first documentation of basking sharks mating in 1998, did the first-in-Canada dives with blue sharks in 2000, filmed mako sharks underwater for the first time in Canada in 2002, and recorded Greenland sharks underwater in natural conditions for the first time in 2003. In October 2020 he cage dove to document great white sharks underwater in Nova Scotia for the first time in Canadian waters. In November 2021 he and navy diver Michael Schwinghammer became the first divers in Canadian waters to encounter a 10-foot great white shark while open-water diving on a shipwreck in Halifax Harbour.

Chris Harvey-Clark's profile page