First Ever Tropical Zebra Shark in the UK

Loch Lomond Sea Life Aquarium has hatched out the first ever tropical zebra shark to be born in Britain.

The event is a major coup for the attraction’s recently launched Shark Nursery, where the 15 cm infant now has pride of place in its very own display tank.

It has also provided the Aquarium with a natural ‘star’ for special celebrations marking European Shark Week later this month.

Found in tropical seas from South Africa to the coast of Australia, zebra sharks can reach 2.5 metres.

“The egg-case was amongst a consignment of small sea creatures delivered to the UK from Japan in June,” said senior aquarist Colin Sinclair.

“Colleagues at our main collection centre in Weymouth, Dorset, thought it would be ideal for our shark nursery, but to be honest we didn’t know for sure it was fertile until it hatched out.”

Though reputedly difficult to get feeding, the Loch Lomond team have managed to get their new arrival feasting happily on very finely chopped sand eel.

“We’re so thrilled that the first tropical baby shark to be born in our new nursery should be a ‘first’ for Scotland and the UK,” said Colin.

“It’s an especially interesting species too, because zebra sharks are only stripy when they are babies, and people seldom get chance to see that.

“As they grow the bands around their bodies gradually break up and the adults are actually spotted rather than barred.”
A nocturnal species, zebra sharks spend most of the day resting. At night they hunt for molluscs and small bony fish on coral reefs and in the seabed.

Now Colin and his colleagues are hoping the baby zebra shark will encourage lots of people to visit during European Shark Week – Oct 15 to 23 – to help raise awareness of the desperate plight of wild sharks.

“Tens of millions of sharks are killed annually, either as by-catch or taken to have their fins hacked off for shark fin soup,” said Colin.

“Many species take years to mature and are being slaughtered before they have chance to reproduce,” he added.

“The numbers are totally unsustainable, which is why around a third of the 500-plus species around the world are already seriously endangered.”

People can find out more about Shark Week events – including shark face-painting, a novel ‘pin the fin on the shark’ game and shark story-telling sessions,  by visiting www.sealife.co.uk