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The Sharks of North America. Jose I. Castro. 2011. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539294-4. Xiii + 613 p. $99.00 (hard cover). - Castro's original book on North American sharks (Castro, 1983) was an informative, wellwritten, and concise guide to the sharks of this region that synthesized and presented the scientific information at the time; the same cannot be said of Castro's new book. The author seems more intent on impressing the reader with his personal knowledge of North American sharks rather than providing an informative reference synthesizing the current scientific literature. Despite the attractive color illustrations, the layout and presentation of the species accounts are largely unfocused, verbose, redundant, and present information that is often ten or more years out of date. The writing is full of first-person references. Castro uses "1" and "my" on average about five times per species account and in some accounts in excess of 20 times.
A major problem with the book is that the author frequently inserts his own opinion as fact and these opinions are often at odds with the published literature. He provides no supporting evidence while dismissing, or not even citing, the research of many contemporary researchers. Furthermore, the text is interspersed throughout with backhanded comments on the research of others; this book reads not as a scientific treatise but rather as a personal affirmation. It is puzzling why Castro feels the need to use the forum of this book to make backhanded comments and slight the research of his contemporaries. It seems rather petty. Examples of his rather snarky comments and criticisms includes the Pacific angel shark (Squatina californien) account, whereby Castro goes to great lengths to cite and support findings from an unpublished master's thesis on this species, while criticizing and dismissing a published study by Natanson and Cailliet (1986). He concludes his account by stating that the smallest mature male that he examined measured 91 cm TL, but does not give any further information or put into context his remarks. For the gray smoothhound shark (Mustelus californicus) account, Castro states that Yudin and Cailliet (1990) underestimated the size and age at maturity because, according to Castro, the California population extends into the Gulf of California and is likely one population. However, there is...