Where are the world's great shark exhibits?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
One of the patterns that emerges from snowleopard's zoo and aquarium reviews on his road trip is that most aquariums (and several zoos like Pittsburgh, Omaha, and Point Defiance in Tacoma) have a large shark tank as one of their superstar attractions. From the species lists given for these tanks it seems like the same shark species are in most of the tanks: black-tipped reef sharks, sandtiger sharks, nurse sharks, white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, etc.

Where are the world's great shark exhibits and what makes them great? Do the great shark exhibits have to have unusual shark species or can even the "MacDonalds" shark species found in multiple places create great exhibits?

The Georgia Aquarium gets mentioned quite often with its huge Ocean Voyager tank with whale sharks, greater hammerheads, and manta rays. I have only seen video and pictures of this shark exhibit, but there are many rave reviews here on Zoochat.

The Open Bay tank (or whatever they call it now) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is spectacular and occasionally houses a great white shark. Scalloped hammerheads are the mainstay shark residents. This tank has schools of thousands of sardines that one can see parting and darting around the sharks as they move through the schools of potential prey fish.

The Shark Reef aquarium in Las Vegas has an impressive shark exhibit that is large and designed such that one can watch the sharks from immersive windows that completely surround one.
 
I suspect this, to a large extent, will equal the largest tanks around the world: The big Japanese Aq's, Monterey Bay, Georgia, Atlantis Bahamas (if open-air tanks count), Dubai (if mall aq's count), Lisbon, etc

btw, Galapagos shark is uncommon in aquariums. The 'standard' Carcharhinus kept several places around the world are grey reef, Caribbean reef, bull, sandbar, blacknose and blacktip reef (because of their relatively small size, the two last mentioned are sometimes kept in 'ordinary' tanks with larger reef fish). A large percentage of the remaining species in the genus have been or are kept, but far rarer; copper, Galapagos, whitecheek, silvertip, pigeye, spinner, silky, etc. I might add that Monterey Bay Aq. at one point had oceanic whitetip in the Open Bay tank, IMO the most awe-inspirin carcharhiniform shark and a species I rate as highly as the great white ;)
 
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What a question! Yes most of the aquariums display the same sharks in a big open ocean scene. And yes the big tanks are spectacular if you have big animals (whale shark, etc) Tanks like Georgia and Okinawa (Sorry about the spelling) are fantastic, but then a tank like the x tank of Osaka really is terrible for the animal, he/she can only use the center of the x because as they get big they can't turn in the ends of the x.

To me the tank should be good for the animal and other animals that are in the aquarium. Tanks like Lisbon, where there are 4 habitats in the corners (Northern, Southern, Temperate, and Tropical), gives the ability to display a lot more then the sharks, which makes the exhibit far more entertaining and educational then just sharks.

One of my small favorites is Point Defiance, which has the medium size shark tank, but a little jewel of a tropical reef, displaying black tip and white tips. This has a mural and coral up out of the water to hide the transition of the mural. The sharks come up to the sandy beach which is only three feet from the public who can come up to a fallen coconut tree to view it.

Other favorites would be any of the Ripleys tanks, they are large, moving walkways, and lots of habitat. Ship wreck in Gatlinburg is excellent.

lets not forget Aquarium of the Americas (New Orleans) with the Oil rig and one of the best collection of sharks anywhere. 13 years ago, 13 people got a real close up look at the sharks, when they were on a special tour and were on a platform on the oil rig, when it collapsed into the shark infested water. Very Interactive display!

The list goes on and on and I look for not just the collection, but how the exhibit goes together for the public also. As for collections it is as hit and miss situation. Many years ago Lisbon and Rotterdam hired Forest Young to collect Hammerheads. He got 12 and sent 6 to Rotterdam and 6 to Lisbon. One of the Lisbon died, but the remain 5 were put in holding to gain some size. I think they were up to 6 feet, when they were released. I heard the staff were crushed when their large grouper came over to the animal and opened its mouth and shallowed the hammerhead whole. If I remember the story correctly he/she proceded to eat all 5 within the week. That was a pretty expensive sushi meal!
 
uShaka Sea World in South Africa also has a very large collection of larger sharks, including several species that rarely are seen in aquariums, but as I've said elsewhere the "seaworld approach" is not my cup of tea.

For people that haven't visited the remarkable Okinawa Churaumi, they should be aware that it has two primary areas for larger sharks: The big tank that most probably know with whale sharks, zebra sharks, tawny nurse sharks, guitarfish, tuna, trevallies, barracuda, rays and more, and a less famous section that mainly holds large 'hardcore' predators like bull, sandbar, tiger and sicklefin lemon. Their 'hardcore' predator section is smaller than shark tanks in several US aquariums and may not appear as impressive to casual visitors, but they evidently thrive: They have the oldest bull shark ever kept in captivity (approaching 35, less than the oldest shark ever kept which was a sand tiger, but I suspect it is the oldest Carcharhinus), he is a grandfather now (I suspect few -if any- other aquarium has bred larger Carcharhinus to 3rd generation), the sandbars have bred, and they recently had their first breeding of sicklefin lemon. Warm-water sharks that don't surpass 1.8 m./6 ft. in length are kept in various other reef aquariums; blacktip reef shark, catsharks, bamboo sharks, etc. When you add a bunch of other achievements (e.g. only breeding mantas and coral spawning every year), interesting deep-water tanks filled with species not displayed anywhere else (incl. small deep-water shaks such as salamander shark, Japanese shortnose spurdog, mandarin dogfish and Japanese sawshark), plenty of scientific research and public education (incl. an "aquarium bus" that visits retirement homes, schools and similar) people may understand why this is the aquarium I rate as the best *marine aquarium in the world. Just ahead of Monterey Bay, Georgia and Lisbon. Regardless, all four aquariums have world class displays with sharks.

* "Marine aquarium": Although Okinawa Churaumi, Monterey Bay and Lisbon have remarkable saltwater sections, their score in freshwater is less impressive ;)
 
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dmanwarren said:
Many years ago Lisbon and Rotterdam hired Forest Young to collect Hammerheads. He got 12 and sent 6 to Rotterdam and 6 to Lisbon. One of the Lisbon died, but the remain 5 were put in holding to gain some size. I think they were up to 6 feet, when they were released. I heard the staff were crushed when their large grouper came over to the animal and opened its mouth and shallowed the hammerhead whole. If I remember the story correctly he/she proceded to eat all 5 within the week. That was a pretty expensive sushi meal!
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I´m not really sure if they were hammerhed, because what i remember were Blue Sharks. It´s a very very very common species in Portugal and not found in aquariums. Lisbon had 5 baby ones, and they were released to the tank in a day i was visiting the Oceanarium. Most of them were eaten by the Giant Grouper in few days, so it wasn´t a good life.

condor said:
* "Marine aquarium": Although Okinawa Churaumi, Monterey Bay and Lisbon have remarkable saltwater sections, their score in freshwater is less impressive ;)
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Lisbon Oceanarium was built for the 1998 EXPO, in wich the theme was the Ocean. So, the Lisbon Oceanarium only keeps saltwater species.


The current collection of sharks and ray according to the Oceanarium site is this:

Nurse hound (Scyliorhinus stellaris)
Smallspotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula)
Thornback ray (Raja clavata)
Dark shyshark (Haploblepharus pictus)
Leopard catshark (Poroderma pantherinum)
Puffadder shyshark (Haploblepharus edwardsii)
Striped catshark (Poroderma africanum)
Horn shark (Heterodontus francisci)
Leopard shark, cat shark (Triakis semifasciata)
Bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma)
Blacknose shark (Carcharhinus acronotus)
Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)
Blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus)
Bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma)
Bull ray (Pteromylaeus bovinus)
Common eagle ray (Myliobatis aquila)
Cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus)
Giant Devil Ray (Mobula mobular)
Giant guitarfish (Rhynchobatus djiddensis)
Honeycomb stingray (Himantura uarnak)
Leopard whipray (Himantura undulata)
Pink whipray (Himantura fai)
Round stingray (Taeniura grabata)
Sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus)
Sand Tiger shark (Carcharias taurus)
Southern stingray (Dasyatis americana)
Whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)
Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni)
Southern fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina fasciata)

It also housed this species, according to zootierliste:

Atlantic nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)
Tawny nurse shark (Nebrius ferrugineus)
Dark shyshark (Haploblepharus pictus)
Puffadder shyshark (Haploblepharus edwardsii)
Swellshark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum)
Blue shark (Prionace glauca)
Bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo)
Scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini)
Spotted ray (Raja montagui)
Blotched fantail ray (Taeniurops meyeni)
Leopard Whipray (Himantura undulata)
Round stingray (Taeniurops grabata)
Spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari)
Giant shovelnose ray (Glaucostegus typus)

Some of these were the first in the world being exhibited, like the manta ray and the giant devil ray (still the only one).

Hope i helped! :p
 
filipinos said:
Lisbon Oceanarium was built for the 1998 EXPO, in wich the theme was the Ocean. So, the Lisbon Oceanarium only keeps saltwater species.
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Yes; that's exactly why I said their score in freshwater isn't impressive and my placement was based on saltwater. Monterey Bay is in the same boat. Okinawa Churaumi has a quite small freshwater section that many aquariums around the world easily can match. If looking solely at freshwater, few (if any) can match Shedd.

filipinos said:
I´m not really sure if they were hammerhed, because what i remember were Blue Sharks.
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I had to check my notes: They were scalloped hammerheads and they arrived in August 1999. When the 5 hammerheads were released into the tank they were eaten by giant grouper and other sharks. As dmanwarren said, a very expensive meal! However, for a very short time Lisbon also had two small blue sharks. They were eaten by a grey reef shark a few minutes after they were introduced to the tank. Unfortunate, but it can happen in a tank with large sharks.

filipinos said:
Some of these were the first in the world being exhibited, like the manta ray and the giant devil ray (still the only one)..
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Among the species listed in your post, only giant devil ray was first at Lisbon. However, as you say this interesting species still hasn't been kept anywhere else. The related Japanese devil ray is kept at Osaka. As at least one other zoochatter, I'm wondering about the status of the lesser devil ray at Georgia: Dead, still backstage or released into the Ocean Voyager tank (at least it wasn't on my last visit, but that's quite some time ago)?

The first to exhibit manta with any level of success was Ocean Expo Aquarium in Okinawa (the predecessor of Okinawa Churaumi) with one captured in 1992 and a second in 1998. Both were still alive in 2002 when moved to the new and current facility at Okinawa Churaumi. Atlantis Bahamas had their first mantas in 1998. The first manta to arrive at Lisbon was in 2002. However, for people that follow the recent shift in manta taxonomy, it is possible that the first Manta birostris in captivity was in Lisbon. My main hesitation is Atlantis Bahamas: The mantas I've seen from this facility are M. cf. birostris, but over the years they've had several and it is possible one or more have been the true M. birostris. The mantas in Japanese aquariums are M. alfredi and the mantas in Georgia are M. alfredi and M. cf. birostris. I know little about the Hong Kong Ocean Park and can't say much about the facility, but based on small photos theirs are M. alfredi.

But as usual I'm drifting off topic :eek:
The world's great shark exhibits....

DavidBrown said:
Do the great shark exhibits have to have unusual shark species or can even the "MacDonalds" shark species found in multiple places create great exhibits?
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Great shark exhibits consisting only of common shark species are definitely possible, but there are none in my absolute top ("shark top 5") without rarer species among their sharks. Other requirements for the absolute top of my shark aquarium list:
1) Big tank. Primary tank below 3.5 million liter/1 million US gallon can definitely be fine for most species, but it won't be in my shark top 5.
2) Good care. Should be obvious, but there are still places where it isn't.
3) Education. If the only eduction they provide originates from the movie Jaws, it won't be in my shark top list.
4) Not a requirement, but definitely a big plus: Breeding, beyond the standard small sharks that lots of aquariums breed (bamboo shark, some catsharks, etc).
5) Not a requirement, but definitely a big plus: Smaller tank with unusual small sharks species (not just the standard bamboo, epaulette, Port Jackson, etc).

After all, there's not much aquariums can do about the appearance of a tank for large sharks. Sure they can add a a bit of pseudo-reef and a sunken ship, but for the large continuously swimming species (Carcharhinus, tiger, whale, lemon, etc) they're just obstacles that take up valuable space.
 
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Just to end with the off topic, Lisbon Manta´s were the first birostris, i believe. About the others, i was talking for example about the sea otters, the first in europe, and still the only ones, but i believe Lisbon sent some to Rotterdam. I think there were other rays that weren´t in any aquarium anywhere else, at least in Europe.

On-Topic:

For a small/medium aquarium, a shark tank with blacktip reef, sandbar and one or two sandtigers are the best part of the aquarium for 95% of the visitors.

For a good/big aquarium a tank filled with common sharks isn´t enough. To be great it needs an uncommon shark species (Lemon, White, Whale, Blue, Bull, Tiger, Giant Hammerhead...) or uncommon big specie (Sun fish, Manta, Devil Ray, Giant Trevally, Goliath Grouper...)

Another thing that would be good for a shark thank would be an underwater tunel or a big viewing panel. Tanks also need some smaller species to give an "ocean effect" and corals/rocks, just a tank filled with water and fish isn´t enough, it gives a boring effect.

Aquariums like Georgia, Okinawa, Osaka, Lisbon, Dubai, Monterrey and maybe Valencia (too empty for me...) have great shark exhibits! ;)
 
@condor
The devil ray in Georgia is kept in the ocean voyager as you can see in this video. There's also a photo on the aquarium's website.
Valencia aquarium also had a giant devil ray but only for six months and I don't know if it has been on exhibit and the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai had (or still has) shortfin devil rays.

I have visited only two aquariums with big shark exhibits but the one in Burgers' Zoo was definitely the best. There are blacktip sharks, a scalloped hammerhead shark(:D), zebra sharks, blacktip reef sharks a giant shovelnose ray and many species of coral reef fish in a three million litre tank.
 
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I had seen the photo of the devil ray on Georgia Aq's website but when you clicked the species the link was dead. Consequently I had my doubts but the video confirms its presence in the big tank. Thanks Hamerhaai. Since time prevented the planned re-visit to Georgia Aq. this summer, I hope I'll have the time before Christmas.
 
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