Fish Bar

The Shark Page
A Few NEAq Sharks

I have had the ultracool privilege of being allowed to dive in the Giant Ocean Tank at the New England Aquarium a total of 5 times now. As many people can attest there are several large sharks in the tank. Below are pictures I took on some of my dives.

Fish Bar

Nurse Shark
This is the only nurse shark that used to reside in the G.O.T. at the Aquarium. I had previously published here that it was put to sleep, but I had been misinformed. A Senior Aquarist has informed me that the shark was actually sent to the Baltimore Aquarium because it had reached maturity and was trying to mate with other sharks in the tank, all of different species and some of same gender. Since the sand tiger sharks did not appreciate this, it was deemed safer to move the nurse shark to be with some female nurse sharks in Baltimore, than to let him continue roaming the G.O.T.
Aside from a quick accidental brush with one of the sand tiger sharks (details below), this was the only shark in the tank that we were allowed to touch (with supervision). It felt like sandpaper, and didn't mind the other divers and myself petting it at all.
Mermaid Bar
This is one of the Tiger Sharks from the Giant Ocean Tank. On my first G.O.T. dive he bumped into my shoulder, and when I turned my head to see what had bumped me, the first thing I saw was about 10 rows of teeth. Big teeth. Sharp teeth. Big, razor sharp teeth, closeup. Then the shark swam around me ingnoring me as though I were a rock. After that, I stopped holding my breath, but stayed kind of nervous.
This picture was my Christmas card a few years ago. I put little sticker Santa hats on all the cards just above and left of his eye. He looks much less menacing in a Santa hat.
Tiger Shark
Mermaid Bar
Tiger Shark
Here's another shot of one of the tiger sharks. The flash was a little blown out, but now that I have learned to adjust things better in Photoshop, I decided the photo was good enough to put up after all.
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