Today Dr. Adams was still out of town having an awesome time camping.  So it was just me and Samantha running the joint.  We worked on the penguin, and did some of our usual clean up jobs.  But then she took me through a punch of the parts of the aquarium that aren’t in my usual job description.  And don’t you forget – the links are educational!

We started by checking out the life support systems on each tank.  She went over the protein skimmers, the sand filters, bio towers, and all the intricacies of the plumbing and equipment.  I want it - all of it.  Amazing.

We also rescued a Shiner Surfperch who was having difficulty giving birth.  We anesthetized her and pulled out a couple of her babies (she was trying to have three at the same time and it didn’t look so nice).  They are one of the few viviparous salt water fish, meaning that they give birth to live young.

But my favorite part of the day was helping with the shark feeding at Shark Lagoon.  Several times a day the Aquarium of the Pacific husbandry staff put on a feeding show.  And today I got to be part of it.  The sharks are trained to come to one of three feeding stations around their exhibit.  Sam & I were at one station where I was in charge of the Nurse Shark and the Zebra Shark and Samantha was in charge of the Reticulate Whipray.

 The Nurse Shark Keith was kind of a jerk and kept trying to steal the food from the ray and from Fern – the only of our Zebra Sharks living in Shark Lagoon.  But I still like him.  Nurse sharks can get pretty big and they suck their food up like rays do.  Every time Keith ate though, it sounded like a small implosion had taken place!

The Zebra Shark also sucks its food up.  They have long beautiful tails that take up half their body length.  And even though they are spotted they still are called Zebra Sharks because they are striped as juveniles but eventually spots replace their stripes.

The Reticulate Whipray is one of the largest fish we have.  They can weigh over 250 lbs.  Ours didn’t seem to enjoy the squid she was being fed, but still ate everything else that was offered.

Now while I didn’t get to feed all the sharks since I couldn’t be in three places at once, I still feel that they all deserve an honorable mention.  Especially because Shark Lagoon is just freaking awesome.  So here it goes!

If you spend some time around the touch pool you can pet a few small sharks and rays.  It’s a pretty fun experience!

The Epaulette Shark is one of several sharks classified as Bamboo Sharks.  That big spot on their side looks like an eye and makes predators think they are bigger than they are so they get left alone.

My favorite of the rays in the touch pool are the Bat Rays.  They just look cool! 

Outside of Shark Lagoon, you can check out the Swell Sharks in the Southern California Gallery or the Bonnethead Sharks in the hugemongous tank in the Tropical Pacific Gallery.  I think they’re both beautiful and wanted to show them to you even though I didn’t get to work with them today.

There's a cool egg tank with lots of Baby Swell Sharks and Baby Swell Sharks to be and come on, who doesn't like Hammerheads?!

So now back to the big tank in Shark Lagoon.   We have a couple Whitetip Reef Sharks.  They tend to aggregate in large schools and can get pretty excited when there’s a lot of food to be had (if you’re like me you’ve seen them on Animal Planet).

I think the most beautiful sharks in the tank are the Blacktip Reef Sharks though.  They swim so gracefully and are easily the most active of the fish in that tank.  These guys are healthy – so much so one of the females is on a diet - and they have been mating recently.

My second favorite shark in that tank is the Sandbar Shark.  It’s beautiful too.  They are a highly migratory species and can live more than 30 years.

Clearly the scariest looking and definitely the meanest fish in the tank is the Sand Tiger Shark.  They swim slow with their scary teeth out, but they mean business.  The one we have now has been known to nip at fins (the poor Sawfish got bit yesterday) and one we had a while ago actually almost severed the Sawfish’s Rostrum (again, poor guy) but Dr. Adams saved it because he is a genius.

The Freshwater Sawfish is my favorite of the rays.  It’s crazy looking and obviously very tough.  Their long rostrum is covered in sharpened dentacles that form the “teeth” of its “saw”.  The Sawfish uses it to spear and stun its prey or to stir up prey in the substrate.  And don't you worry - the "Freshwater Sawfish" is able to live in salt, brackish, and fresh water.

So sharks are pretty cool.  And the Aquarium of the Pacific has some sweet ones.  Dr. Adams loves sharks and has done a lot of research into their reproduction and has had success with the smaller Bamboo Sharks and is looking forward to perfecting his techniques on the larger species.