They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case you can! Whale Sharks contains all you wanted to know about these leviathans, the largest fish in the sea, and Dr Rowat, based in the Seychelles, has been studying them for a very long time.
David and his wife Glynis have been running the Seychelles Underwater Centre for more than 25 years, during which time they have studied the spotty monsters that pass the islands on their migratory route around the Indian Ocean. They have built up a lot of knowledge, as this book demonstrates.
It is a well-structured study of the whale shark in all its aspects, but it’s neither dry nor boring, as so many scientific text-books can be.
There are tons of delightful photographs, all of which fulfill a proper function. There is no capricious use of pictures purely for their prettiness, although many of them are undeniably attractive.
David has been using a microlight aircraft for locating these animals far out at sea, and has been satellite-tagging them since the mid-1990s. He works with the Shark Research Institute, and well-known faces such as those of Stan Waterman and Matt Potenski crop up in the book.
These A4 pages manage to combine scientific data, delicious photos and a readily readable text. This is a useful reference book that’s also nice to browse through.
John Bantin
YPD Books
ISBN 9789993117001
Softback, 128pp, £35
