Hello again, everyone. One of our swell sharks recently emerged from its embryo, so for this week&
17;s update, I thought I&
17;d give a rundown of how the aquarium handles its shark pups.
Currently, we have two kinds of sharks on display: swell sharks (first photo) and horn sharks (second photo). Although both our sharks have been known to multiply, the swell sharks do it far more prolifically and will hence be the main focus of this post.
These are what swell shark embryos look like. These three specifically are on public display, but we have many more in the back room.
When a pup emerges from its embryo, it&
17;s immediately moved to the quarantine tank seen in this photo. As you can see, we have no shortage of them (and in comparison, there are only three horn shark embryos that haven&
17;t even hatched yet).
Several things can happen to the pups depending on the circumstances. Sometimes, they&
17;re moved to the public exhibit (pictured above), which is what happened with our newest pup. Other times they&
17;re donated to other aquariums, and still other times they&
17;re kept until they&
17;re large enough for the primary shark tank. It really depends on how much room we have and where.
On a side note, one of our adult swell sharks sprayed me with a mouthful of water once. It was unpleasant.
-Kamran