Kenshu Shimada

Shimada is interested in the evolution of marine ecosystems over geologic time, particularly by examining the paleobiology of sharks and other marine vertebrates that lived during the ‘age of dinosaurs’ (Mesozoic). While he studies a variety of organisms in the context of paleoecology, his specialty is in a group of sharks called lamniforms that have been ecologically important in past and present oceans as they include top predators (e.g., mako and great white sharks) and large plankton feeders (e.g., basking and megamouth sharks). Shimada enjoys demonstrating the relationships of morphology in such aquatic vertebrates to their life history strategies, behavior, ecology, and evolution.