Incident Response

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The image on the cover of Incident Response is a diver and shark. There are over 350 species of sharks, but only three are responsible for most attacks on swimmers and divers: the white shark (Carcharodon leucas), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), and the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). Other species known to attack humans include the hammerhead, the shortfin mako, and certain reef sharks. In Florida, reports of shark attacks implicate the blacktip, spinner, and blacknose sharks. To avoid shark attacks, divers are advised to swim in groups and avoid the water at night, dawn, and dusk.

Sharks are the apex predator of the ocean, balancing the ecosystem by controlling the populations of other animals such as seals and pinnipeds. Sharks rely on sight, taste, smell, and sound to track prey in the water. They can sense electric and magnetic fields, and detect low frequency vibrations a mile or more away. Their teeth are constantly replaced, sometimes every eight days, and their bodies are a hydrodynamic torpedo shape. The smallest shark, the 6-inch cigar shark, lives 1,500 feet under the surface in the Atlantic, Indian, and western Pacific oceans. The largest shark is the 60-foot whale shark, which feeds on plankton. The average lifespan ...