Macduff Marine Aquarium is set to display new baby sharks and skates following a successful breeding programme.
Baby sharks and skates are coming in time for the Easter holidays including catsharks, bull huss, which is a type of shark, and thornback skates.
These local species frequently lay eggs known as mermaids’ purses, which are collected and kept in quarantine tanks behind the scenes up to nine months before they hatch.
Baby sharks and skates have remained in quarantine until becoming large enough to hold their own among the other fish in the tanks on display.
The young were only available to be viewed by visitors on the special VIP aquarium tours, but that is all about to change.
The aquarium is unveiling a new feature including an improved hatchery for the mermaids’ purses and a purpose-built nursery tank for the baby sharks and skates.
In addition to the shark hatchery and nursery tank, the aquarium husbandry team have made some modifications to the existing sandy seabed exhibit to allow the growing-on catsharks and thornback skates to be accommodated as they get bigger.
‘See the entire shark lifecycle’
Chris Rowe, the aquarium’s displays officer, said: “Since we made changes to our touch pools some years ago, we haven’t been able to keep our newly hatched catsharks and skates on display for public to view.
“We’re delighted to now be able to show off these charismatic and bite-sized predators.
“The changes we made to the sandy seabed tank will also let us move the juveniles from nursery to creche as they mature – so visitors can see the entire lifecycle of these local shark species in our displays from egg to adult.”
The young catsharks, bull huss and thornback skates will stay at the aquarium for several years until they are large enough to eventually be released to support the local wild populations of these species.
The baby shark display will be open to visitors from Saturday, April 1.
The aquarium will be open from 10am – 5pm weekdays and 11am – 5pm at weekends. Visitors can also take part in a Sharky Easter Egg trail daily throughout the holidays.
This comes two years after Macduff Marine Aquarium placed a critically endangered flapper skate from Orkney named Cedric on display.
The skate was rescued by the north-east aquarium at the end of 2020 after the Orkney Skate Trust found a developing embryo inside a damaged egg case.
The egg couldn’t be returned to the sea as it was unlikely to survive- so was carefully nurtured in a fish tank in a researcher’s garage and Cedric was successfully born.
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