Poster image for Swimming with Sharks at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Harvard Museum of Natural HistoryHarvard Square, Cambridge

Swimming with Sharks: A Deep Dive into Shark Biology and Behavior

Now showing12 November 2022 – 8 November 2026$20

Jaws from Harvard's collections, underwater photography by Keith Ellenbogen and the science of shark skin recast the ocean's most misunderstood megafauna as more menaced than menacing.

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On now All of October 2026

One of the specimens here is a preserved puppy shark. "Yes, puppy shark," wrote the Boston Globe's Mark Feeney, and it has company: a goblin shark, a frilled shark and a bearded wobbegong.

The show argues that sharks are more menaced than menacing. You read jaws from Harvard's collections for clues to what each shark ate, and learn how tiny teeth on its skin help it slip through water. Keith Ellenbogen's underwater photographs run from the white shark to the wobbegong, alongside fossils, teeth and a video. Jaws was shot on Martha's Vineyard, so it's fitting that the rebuttal is in Cambridge.

Feeney's case is in the numbers: fewer than 10 people a year die from shark bites, while humans kill more than 100,000 sharks. If sharks scare you, he reckons you may leave feeling otherwise. It's included in the $20 adult admission, which also covers the adjoining Peabody Museum, tickets are sold only at the desk, and it closes on 8 November 2026.

Editor's pick

Jaws from Harvard's collections (the real kind, not the Spielberg kind), Keith Ellenbogen's underwater photographs and the science of shark skin, making the case that sharks are more menaced than menacing.

Look for

The puppy shark
Look for the preserved puppy shark, one of several oddly named species here, alongside the goblin shark, frilled shark and bearded wobbegong.
Jaws from Harvard's collections
A run of preserved shark jaws, set out so you can read each one for clues to what that shark ate.
Keith Ellenbogen's underwater photographs
Shots by the Boston-area photographer taken in the water with the sharks, from the toothy white shark to the weird wobbegong.