Cooler than #SharkWeek: Real Shark Biologist Mark Royer

Dr Collin Drake doesn't exist, but there are plenty of real shark biologists in the world. This week, I sat down with my friend Mark Royer, a Ph.D. Student at the University of Hawai'i who has perhaps the coolest job on Earth: he grapples with sharks for a living. No, really. Mark is a part of the Shark Research Team from the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, led by two of the most renowned shark biologists in the world: Carl Meyer and Kim Holland. The research group has been studying the sharks of Hawai'i for decades, and as a lab, have produced dozens of publications on shark biology, ecology, and physiology. I can't help but feel small in Mark's presence—at over six feet tall, he towers over me. His loose-fitting t-shirt does nothing to hide the broad-shouldered body that lies beneath. With the musculature of a triathlete, Mark looks like he could take on just about any shark out there, save perhaps a large great white. And I know he has—as a part of his daily work, he has helped handle everything from baby hammerheads to large tiger sharks. But Mark's intimidating stature, which among friends has earned him the moniker "Captain America", belies the sweet young man that got to where he is now simply because he really loved the water. "I have been swimming since I was four years old," he told me. Mark was a competitive swimmer in high school, swam and did triathlons in college, and has always had a special place in his heart for marine life. "My grandparents would take me to the National Aquarium in Baltimore when I was young, and I was absolutely fascinated by all the animals. Not just the sharks, but all the reef fish, the stingrays, the dolphins, everything." "I was five years old when I first went snorkeling—right here in Hawai'i," he said. "When I got to high school I earned the chance to volunteer at the National Aquarium in Baltimore as an exhibit guide. It fueled my passion for learning about marine life and sharing that knowledge with others. This solidified my childhood desire to be a marine biologist." Though on the advice of his teachers he prepared for his intended career by taking as many science classes as he could, it wasn't until Mark got to the University of North Carolina Wilmington that he realized how tough the job he was signing up for really is. "When I was going into college I learned that marine biology was a field that required you to challenge yourself academically and demonstrate initiative outside of the classroom." As I've explained before, it's not all sunshine and frolicking in the ocean—science is hard, and studying charismatic animals like sharks or marine mammals is even harder. "It's a very competitive field to get into," Mark said. "You have to be a very dedicated student and a good, hard worker." But when you love something, you stick to it. The summer after Mark's sophomore year of college, he managed to snag an internship at the Scripps Institution of Marine Biology helping then-graduate student Andy Nosal with his research on the ecology of leopard sharks. Mark learned a lot from Andy and his lab mates in the Jeff Graham lab, as the experience gave him a deeper understanding of the full scientific process. While interning with the Graham lab at Scripps, he conducted his own research project on the feeding ecology of leopard sharks jointly with the Lankford lab at UNCW for his senior project. "It was a very engaging experience. I would spend my free time swimming and free diving between the kelp forests and sand flats, making personal observations of the various sharks, rays and other marine life in the area for hours at a time." Mark's current dissertation research is examining the interplay between physiology and ecology. Years of tracking data have shown that many sharks, from scalloped hammerheads to tiger sharks, make drastic vertical movements, down hundreds of meters into the ocean's blackness. "I want to know if these species have any physical adaptations that allow them to do these deep dives," Mark explained. How do these cold-blooded sharks survive and move in such freezing cold waters? And why do they make these incredible dives? Mark hopes to find out.