BOSTON (AP) – One visitor compared the anticipation to being in the waiting room while waiting for the birth of a baby.
The New England Aquarium on Saturday introduced two new sand tiger sharks to its showcase 250,000-gallon Great Ocean Tank to replace a sand tiger that was moved to another aquarium when it become too big.
Hundreds of awed visitors surrounded the open rim of the tank as the two sharks – one male, one female, each a little over 4-feet long – were introduced to their new home and their more than 700 roommates from more than 130 other aquatic species.
“It was like waiting for a baby at the hospital,” said John Hynes, of Albany, N.Y., who was visiting the aquarium with his wife, Marcy.
The Hyneses, visiting their daughter’s family in the Boston area, didn’t know about the new sharks when they first got to the aquarium, but got caught up in the excitement. “This was like a plus for us,” Hynes said. “It was quite an experience.”
The sharks, native to the waters from the Caribbean to New England, were caught off the coast of Rhode Island late this summer and have been held at a facility in Duxbury since then to acclimate them, aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said.
The sharks were quarantined to make sure they didn’t have any diseases or parasites that could harm the other animals in the Great Ocean Tank, to get them used to human divers, and to teach them how to eat off of a feeding stick.
“We don’t want them to think the tank is a giant sushi bar,” LaCasse said.
The sharks were brought into the tank in wraparound slings and divers then escorted them straight to the sandy bottom.
“It’s normal behavior for them to go right to the bottom and rest because they get a little intimidated in a new environment,” said Sherrie Floyd, a senior staff diver at the aquarium who has been working with sharks for 10 years.
The new sharks will be the aquarium’s priority for the next couple of weeks. “They need a lot of tender, loving care,” Floyd said.
Many people, especially children, have misconceptions about sharks as dangerous animals, Floyd said.
“Sharks for the most part have a bad reputation, which is not deserved,” she said. “We are more of a danger to them than they are to us. The question I hear most often is ‘Why don’t they eat you?’ This is a chance to educate people when they ask that question.”
The 34-year-old nonprofit aquarium has been struggling financially and recently announced that it was laying off 20 percent of its 220 full-time staff. But the introduction of the new sharks was in the works long before those troubles started, LaCasse said.
The aquarium has blamed its financial woes on the weak economy after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, access difficulty caused by the Big Dig highway project in downtown Boston and an abandoned $125 million East Wing expansion. The aquarium expects between 1.2 million and 1.3 million visitors this year, down from 1.5 million in a typical year, LaCasse said.
The new sharks can only boost the number of visitors.
“Everyone is fascinated by sharks,” said Marcy Hynes, the visitor from Albany, N.Y. “They are exciting, they are intimidating.””
AP-ES-11-15-03 1838EST
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