3 days ago
How the National Aquarium gets new sharks for its jaws-packed exhibit
Pandas fly the Panda FedEx Express. Zebras get an airlift. But when Baltimore's National Aquarium needs a new shark, it's a great-white-size task.
Why it matters: It's Shark Week, but don't bask by the TV — there's an apex experience at the aquarium's " Shark Alley," where seven species cruise for your views.
Descending into the circular 225,000-gallon tank is the closest you'll get to a cage dive on land.
The intrigue: How do sharks get there? Some species, like Atlantic sandbar sharks, swim constantly to breathe, getting oxygen through water passing over their gills (so no orca-style airlift).
And unlike those randy pandas, sharks aren't brought to the aquarium to breed.
How it works: The aquarium only gets new sharks every few years, curator Jay Bradley tells Axios.
Some of its longest inhabitants are also its farthest travelers: blacktips from Australia, part of an original 2013 exhibit.
They were shipped as easygoing juveniles in individual tanks, flying cargo — no dedicated beluga Boeing for the li'l guys.
Rarely, a baby shark (doodoododododo) is born.
Between the lines: All sharks and rays — fun fact: shark cousins — are quarantined for 90 days in acclimation tanks in the Animal Care and Rescue Center before their permanent debut.
Zoom in: For years, the National Aquarium participated in a shark tagging program in Delaware to track and study sand tiger sharks, where they also snagged new aquarium guests. Sandbars are the most prevalent shark species in the Chesapeake Bay.
The most recent shark newcomers were sand tigers — caught in Delaware as juveniles, placed in tanks with circulating water for breathing and transported to the aquarium via truck.
Threat level: For Atlantic shark attacks — and shark-on-shark attacks — it's low, even though there's a lot of big shark energy in Shark Alley.
That's why bull sharks — a local species sometimes spotted in the Potomac — aren't invited.
"They're tenacious, investigative. They tend to eat other things," Bradley tells Axios. (First rule of Shark Alley: Don't eat Shark Alley.)
Meanwhile, Bradley says local sandbars "are a little shy." Sand tigers can move quickly, "but most of the time they're cruising."
