The Tennessee Aquarium has announced the hatching of three critically endangered baby short-tail nurse sharks, which are the first produced from eggs laid by a breeding trio at the facility.
The pups were welcomed into the world on July 7 and are the offspring of one male and two females that arrived in Chattanooga last year along with eight other juveniles and eight fertilized eggs from Canada. The fertilized eggs hatched in 2021, according to a news release.
The aquarium currently has 20 short-tail nurse sharks and the largest breeding group of the species of any public institution in North America, according to data cited from the Species360 Zoological Information Management System, and one more egg remains to be hatched from the group.
The aquarium hopes to create a sustainable population for the species in human care, help raise awareness of their conservation status in the wild and eventually help supply other facilities with their own short-tail nurse sharks. The lessons staff learn while caring for them are also planned to be used at other institutions with breeding programs, the release states.
"This is an example of how we're able to not only display animals to educate the public, but we're able to further the science behind the animals that we display," said Senior Aquarist Kyle McPheeters, who is responsible for the aquarium's shark breeding program.
The aquarium's adult short-tail nurse sharks will eventually be swimming alongside other small sharks in the Stingray Bay touch exhibit. For now, they are being held in an off-exhibit area that is better suited for breeding purposes while they establish a healthy family of offspring, according to the release.
Wild short-tail nurse sharks are found in the tropical waters of the western Indian Ocean, especially around the island of Madagascar off Africa's eastern coast. The sharks, which are nocturnal, lay eggs, which distinguish them from similar-looking Atlantic nurse sharks. Short-tail nurse shark eggs develop for about 165 days before hatching.
The sharks typically grow to about three feet in length and have been known to live as long as 30 years in human care. Their diets consist primarily of fish and crustaceans and they are skilled hunters despite their small size.
- Compiled by Kim Sebring