Outer Reef

Ginglymostoma cirratum

You can spot our nurse sharks because they love to hang out on the bottom of the Outer Reef. Slow swimmers and bottom feeders, they are docile unless disturbed, although they can grow to a whopping 14 feet.
Nurse sharks are found in the Atlantic from Rhode Island to Brazil, and in the Pacific from the Gulf of California to Ecuador, especially in bays, estuaries and shallow reefs.
One of the few sharks whose pups are born live (after hatching from eggs in mom’s body), nurse sharks eat small fish, crab, octopus and other sea creatures, using their mouths like vacuums to suck prey out of crevices. They’re often found in groups of 20-30, piled up on top of each other.

DID YOU KNOW?

They can change color to match their surroundings, grow a new set of teeth every 8 days and have two nasal barbels (like fleshy whiskers) near their mouth, which help them feel around for prey on the ocean floor.

Carcharhinus plumbeus

Sandbar sharks grow to around 8 feet, and are found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, although they migrate seasonally.
They eat bottom food like fish, crustaceans and mollusks, and are preyed on by humans and larger sharks. They’re rarely seen at the surface and avoid beaches, so pose little threat to humans.
Listed by the IUCN as vulnerable, sandbar sharks are still recovering from overfishing for their fins. They bear live pups which live in coastal nurseries until they grow bigger.

DID YOU KNOW?

Shark scales – called dermal denticles – are made of the same material as their teeth.

Carcharhinus melanopterus

Blacktip reef sharks can be spotted by their coloring: light belly and dark back, with a black fin tip. This helps camouflage them – when seen from below they blend with the sunny ocean surface, and when seen from above they blend with the darker ocean floor.
They’re found in tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean Sea, gathering inshore near coral reefs. They eat small fish, crustaceans, octopus, squid, crabs and sea snakes, often leaping and spinning when chasing prey and hunting in groups.
Blacktip reef sharks give birth to live pups (after they hatch inside mom’s body) which stay in a protected nursery area for their first year. Although they share shallow waters with snorkelers and scuba divers, they’re not a threat to humans.

DID YOU KNOW?

Blacktip reef sharks are listed as near-threatened by the IUCN, as they are often caught for their fins. It takes years for shark populations to recover from overfishing.

Stegostoma fasciatum

Slender, lithe, with a broad tail as long as its body, a zebra shark is a visual delight. Zebra sharks are actually spotted like a leopard (and called leopard sharks in Australia), to better blend with the coral reefs where they live. They are often sluggish by day, resting propped on their pectoral fins with an open mouth facing the current.

Zebra sharks eat mollusks, crustaceans and small bony fish, and lay large egg cases which they anchor to the sea bottom with tufts of fiber. The range over the Indo-Pacific ocean from Africa to Japan and New Caledonia, and are vulnerable as a species due to diminishing coral reef habitat and overfishing.

Our zebra shark is called Peanut, because she has been in the South Pacific Aquarium since she was a tiny pup! She grew up in the Lagoon, and is now big enough to live in the Outer Reef habitat.