Sharks in North America

That most definitely looks like a sharptooth, yeah! Now that you mention houndsharks - the non accredited (but loosely AZA affiliated, they advised in its construction) Silverton Aquarium at the Silverton Hotel in Las Vegas had a banded houndshark as of March of last year. I was only able to get an absolutely horrific picture of it but it may be one of the only ones present in North America, it’s a rare species stateside despite being super common in Asia.

Also, as mentioned in another thread, Sea World San Diego now features a northern wobbegong in its Bayside Aquarium, which is a North American first as well!
 
Austin the Sengi said:
I already brought this up elsewhere in the forums; but yet, if this is true, the Daytona Aquarium & Rainforest Adventure may in fact be one of (if not, the) only holder/s of the Finetooth Shark anywhere in captivity!

I have also provided a link to the only photo I have of the shark while I was there: Sep. 2025 - Daytona Aquarium - Shark Reef - ZooChat
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I left a comment there - I’d need to see more photos, and maybe it would be easier to simply ask someone on their staff at some point, but it’s not impossible by any stretch! Definitely something I’d like to explore further.
 
Austin the Sengi said:
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Heavily-Cropped Credit: yours truly, Austin the Sengi

@Local_Shark would this photo give us any further insight as for what the shark could be?
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Well...honestly? I cannot be too sure haha. The resolution isn't good enough to make out a distinct blacknose dot, which is a point both for and against lmao.

I've looked at my actual physical field guides (I have a couple very good ones that I highly recommend, from Princeton Press), and what I've found is that there's a reason they look so similar - they're seemingly sister species! But there are some other distinct points we could look for to determine finetooth vs blacknose. Obviously whether or not it has a black nose is the key, but finetooths also feature:
  • Distinctly long (in fact, specifically noted as unusually long) gill slits for a requiem shark species
  • A slightly more curved dorsal rear edge rather than straight like a blacknose
  • A much smaller (more evenly sized with the second dorsal) anal fin than a blacknose
If we can find any further evidence of these it would be immensely helpful. I do see they have it signed as a finetooth on the next image you posted, which is fairly indicative of some confidence...perhaps I will just call them myself tomorrow and see what I can find out!

EDIT: Okay, I think I may just have something more concrete. I found a YouTube video of the aquarium and there's a split-second shot where what certainly seems to be our mystery shark darts past. It has longer gill slits than I'd typically expect of a blacknose, and a smaller anal fin that's evenly sized with the dorsal, as well as a more curved dorsal edge, seemingly pure-white undersides of its pectoral fins, a sharper nose, and no visible black dot on the nose that I can see. That might be something to go off of...will report back if I get anything further or manage to get ahold of anyone actually at the aquarium. The video is here and the time stamp is 22:02 or so to start getting the best looks (I got some real nice peeks at 22:05 and especially 22:08). This really does make me think you might just have something special, Austin...
 
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Austin the Sengi said:
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Sourced Credit: Instagram

Here’s the photo included in the Instagram post mentioned by @ThylacineAlive by the way.
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Yeah that’s about as good as a photo is gonna get, and I think we can definitively state that it is as they say. For what it’s worth @ThylacineAlive, one can never be too certain with aquarium announcements, especially with non-affiliated facilities (and with rarer elasmobranchs that are only somewhat visually distinct), but I think their confidence in their ID is warranted here. It looks like the genuine article!
 
The Frost Museum is listed as keeping Silky Shark with their hammerhead, however the only other shark I saw in the tank was this one, which to me doesn't look right for Silky?

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~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The Frost Museum is listed as keeping Silky Shark with their hammerhead, however the only other shark I saw in the tank was this one, which to me doesn't look right for Silky?

~Thylo
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Yeah, it unfortunately is just a sandbar shark. You would have to have gone way back in this thread to see it, but I posted an update in 2024 after I had been to Frost - they no longer have their silkies, all of them died from some sort of infection in ~2022 from what reports I could find. For that species in North America, it's just Adventure Aquarium (Camden, NJ) and Gran Acuario Mazatlán (Mazatlán, SI, MX).
 
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You know, one thing I still find really interesting is it looks like there are just miscellaneous sharks all over the place. With zoos, there are certain rare species that tend to be associated with only 'better' zoos but there's really not much pattern to the shark holdings except that Georgia tends to favor some larger species. It feels like you'd have to visit every odd aquarium in America to complete the list.
 
Local_Shark said:
Yeah, it unfortunately is just a sandbar shark. You would have to have gone way back in this thread to see it, but I posted an update in 2024 after I had been to Frost - they no longer have their silkies, all of them died from some sort of infection in ~2022 from what reports I could find. For that species in North America, it's just Adventure Aquarium (Camden, NJ) and Gran Acuario Mazatlán (Mazatlán, SI, MX).
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That's what I thought. ZTL still lists Silky and I believe cites a 2023 visit for them. I saw Silky at Adventure Aquarium about 11 years ago now. Good to know they still have them!

~Thylo
 
JVM said:
You know, one thing I still find really interesting is it looks like there are just miscellaneous sharks all over the place. With zoos, there are certain rare species that tend to be associated with only 'better' zoos but there's really not much pattern to the shark holdings except that Georgia tends to favor some larger species. It feels like you'd have to visit every odd aquarium in America to complete the list.
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You are absolutely right, it's a pretty eccentric bunch lol. It's definitely because sharks have both pretty varied needs across orders, but pretty similar needs within some family/genus groups. Places are more willing to try something "exotic" or "rare" every once in a while because really, often times it's just a species that would do just fine in captivity if given the chance due to how similar it is to another of its same genus. For example, finetooth sharks are very similar to blacknose sharks, so much so that it's even hard for me to tell the difference. However nobody exhibits them for whatever reason despite that latter species having very simple needs that can be replicated across aquariums of varying sizes. It's just a quirk of sharks themselves really I guess lol.
ThylacineAlive said:
That's what I thought. ZTL still lists Silky and I believe cites a 2023 visit for them. I saw Silky at Adventure Aquarium about 11 years ago now. Good to know they still have them!

~Thylo
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Not only do they still have them, I'm fairly certain the member of that species they hold is still one of the same very old individuals that were present for my visit all the way back in 2015. It has a distinctive set of curved pectoral fins. In this video from four months ago, it appears to still be there, which means it's probably pretty close to 20 years old by now (it was a fully grown adult when I saw it, so probably at least 5-10 years old back then). They seem to have a truly excellent care team as their great hammerhead, Anchor, also lived a very long time by the standard of his species in aquaria before his passing last year. I hope they eventually get those back, as Adventure was so famous for having them and in truth, was the first US aquarium to do so truly successfully.
 
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Shark ID (possibly Blacknose?) - ZooChat

Never thought I’d be back here so soon for another shark ID, but if my suspicions are true (and supported by the post I’ve linked above). There’s a slight possibility that SeaWorld Orlando may (or may not) have at least one Blacknose Shark!

While not as rare as the finetooth shark that was discussed above, it’s still fascinating for SeaWorld to have acquired this species as soon as they did!

@Local_Shark, if it helps with the ID, I’ve also provided another image of the same individual as seen below.

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Photo Credit: yours truly, Austin the Sengi
 

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Austin the Sengi said:
View attachment 841886
Shark ID (possibly Blacknose?) - ZooChat

Never thought I’d be back here so soon for another shark ID, but if my suspicions are true (and supported by the post I’ve linked above). There’s a slight possibility that SeaWorld Orlando may (or may not) have at least one Blacknose Shark!

While not as rare as the finetooth shark that was discussed above, it’s still fascinating for SeaWorld to have acquired this species as soon as they did!

@Local_Shark, if it helps with the ID, I’ve also provided another image of the same individual as seen below.

View attachment 841887
Photo Credit: yours truly, Austin the Sengi
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That is indeed a blacknose! And they actually acquired it a decent while ago, it’s been there since at least 2023 when I visited. I wasn’t on this particular form at the time so I wasn’t in a position to correct the record as to whether they had them, but I’ve definitely seen that exact individual before. Good catch!
 
Local_Shark said:
That most definitely looks like a sharptooth, yeah! Now that you mention houndsharks - the non accredited (but loosely AZA affiliated, they advised in its construction) Silverton Aquarium at the Silverton Hotel in Las Vegas had a banded houndshark as of March of last year. I was only able to get an absolutely horrific picture of it but it may be one of the only ones present in North America, it’s a rare species stateside despite being super common in Asia.

Also, as mentioned in another thread, Sea World San Diego now features a northern wobbegong in its Bayside Aquarium, which is a North American first as well!
Click to expand...
I can confirm that SWSD does indeed have not one, but two northern wobbegongs (Orectolobus wardi) in the new Bayside facility! They appear to be siblings, and I’m told that they were taken from an illegal importer. They’re just the most adorable little juveniles. :)
Northern wobbegong (Orectolobus wardi) in the Bayside Aquarium

Northern wobbegong (Orectolobus wardi) in the Bayside Aquarium

This is the other northern wobbegong individual at SWSD (I can confirm to be a male). They’re...
 
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