Published on 2 May 2014
The Aqua World aquarium in the Ibaraki prefecture in Oarai, Japan, features attractions like sea lions, jellyfish, dolphins and sharks .... which eat other sharks. Surprised? So was one of the Aqua World caretakers who was checking on the aquarium's residents. At around 11 a.m., his rounds took him to the multi-tank Sea of Sharks exhibit, reports Jin115. The tank reserved for the largest creatures is home to a 1.6-meter whitetip reef shark, as well as a 2.8-meter sand tiger shark. That was when the caretaker saw the larger shark trying to turn the smaller shark into breakfast. But while the sand tiger shark has the sharp teeth you'd expect from an apex predator, it still wasn't able to bite entirely through the hard skin of the whitetip. So the sand tiger switched to Plan B and tried to swallow the smaller shark whole. After about 40 minutes of struggling to choke the whitetip down, the sand tiger shark eventually gave up and ingloriously spat the deceased creature back out. The aquarium staff promptly removed the smaller one, worried that if they didn't do so quickly, the hungry survivor might be tempted to try again. Sadly, the whitetip later died from the injuries it had sustained. "In light of this event, we will be further increasing the effort we make when judging which sharks to place in the same tanks, taking into account their relative size and possible hostilities," a spokesperson for the aquarium said. In the meantime, Aqua World hopes visitors will continue to support the facility and its Sea of Sharks exhibit.
The Aqua World aquarium in the Ibaraki prefecture in Oarai, Japan, features attractions like sea lions, jellyfish, dolphins and sharks .... which eat other sharks. Surprised? So was one of the Aqua World caretakers who was checking on the aquarium's residents. At around 11 a.m., his rounds took him to the multi-tank Sea of Sharks exhibit, reports Jin115. The tank reserved for the largest creatures is home to a 1.6-meter whitetip reef shark, as well as a 2.8-meter sand tiger shark. That was when the caretaker saw the larger shark trying to turn the smaller shark into breakfast. But while the sand tiger shark has the sharp teeth you'd expect from an apex predator, it still wasn't able to bite entirely through the hard skin of the whitetip. So the sand tiger switched to Plan B and tried to swallow the smaller shark whole. After about 40 minutes of struggling to choke the whitetip down, the sand tiger shark eventually gave up and ingloriously spat the deceased creature back out. The aquarium staff promptly removed the smaller one, worried that if they didn't do so quickly, the hungry survivor might be tempted to try again. Sadly, the whitetip later died from the injuries it had sustained. "In light of this event, we will be further increasing the effort we make when judging which sharks to place in the same tanks, taking into account their relative size and possible hostilities," a spokesperson for the aquarium said. In the meantime, Aqua World hopes visitors will continue to support the facility and its Sea of Sharks exhibit.
