Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
9
THE LURE OF SHARKS
T
HE YEAR WAS 1969 AND
Sea World was doing well. However, the man-
agement knew that for the park's success to continue repeat visitors
needed to be o¤ered something new. With this in mind, a small group
got together to brainstorm ideas that might be developed into future
exhibits. The topic of sharks came up, stimulating considerable dis-
cussion and interest.
At that time, aquariums and oceanariums on the East Coast of the
United States had successful exhibits of large, nearshore sharks like
lemons (
Negaprion brevirostris
), bulls (
Carcharhinus leucas
), sandbars
(
C. milberti
), and sand tigers (
Eugomphodus taurus
). Such hardy sharks
didn't occur on the West Coast, however. Moreover, there had been
little success in the past with the open-water pelagic sharks common
o¤ our deepwater Pacific coast. It was decided that these pelagic species
might have potential as exhibit animals, but research needed to be done
to find out for sure. To this end, Sea World committed financial sup-
port for a modest shark research program.
As a rule, shark species living close to shore tend to adapt to life in
an aquarium better than those that live in the almost limitless water
of the open ocean. These nearshore sharks, however—which on the
West Coast include leopard sharks (
Triakis semifasciata
), horn sharks
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