Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
ming motion and, we knew, would make a nice addition to the Kelp
Forest exhibit.
By now our holding tanks were full, and it was time to take our first
load of fish across the channel to Santa Barbara, then transfer them to
the truck for the drive back to Monterey. With the objective of ex-
panding their experience, a second team of new aquarists, under the
guidance of Chuck Farwell, took over to collect the rest of the fish on
the list. Our collection was taking shape and we were breathing easier
as October 20, opening day, approached.
ANOTHER GREAT WHITE SHARK ENCOUNTER
Late one Sunday afternoon in September I received a phone call at home
from marine biologist Paul Seri of the University of California's Bodega
Marine Lab north of San Francisco. A halibut gillnet fisherman had
brought in a young great white shark, he said; it looked active and
healthy swimming around the lab's twelve-foot circular pool, and he
wanted to know if we wanted it.
That was about the last thing I needed at that particular time.
We still had serious work to do to get the aquarium open, and with
the past experiences I'd had with white sharks at Sea World and Stein-
hart Aquarium, I didn't look forward to another heartbreaking failure.
Silently hoping the shark would die, I told Paul Seri to see how it
did overnight and to call me in the morning. The next day he said it
still looked great and was cruising around the pool without any
assistance.
Scott Nygren, who'd worked with sharks at Sea World, had been hired
to fill the vacancy created by Mike Weekley's death. He and I loaded
a transport tank, oxygen-injector pump, oxygen cylinder, and shark
stretcher onto our truck and took o¤ for Bodega Bay. Five hours later
we pulled into the marine lab and were frankly surprised to find the
shark doing very well, swimming around just fine in the small pool,
as Paul had said. Lowering the water level and pulling on our hip boots,
Scott and I climbed in the tank, guided the shark into the stretcher,
and lifted it out and into the oxygenated tank on the truck. We took
o¤ immediately for Monterey.
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