These stripes gradually turn into black spots. The zebra shark gets its name from the stripes it bears when it is young. Now just a few weeks old, the young fish are still isolated to monitor their growth and are fed individually with fish, shrimp and squid 3 times a day. When they hatched, the babies measured between 25 and 30 centimetres. Live from the nursery: The zebra sharks are born!ĭuring the breeding season, the female began laying eggs again.ĭuring incubation, the eggs were carefully monitored by our keepers and our vet: they were scanned to ensure that the embryos were developing properly.īetween July and December 2020, several baby zebra sharks were born. This is also great news for the European conservation programme of which they are a part. The birth of these zebra sharks at Nausicaá is a major event for this species, listed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as endangered in their natural environment. The babies are fed mainly finely cut gambas, razor clams and squid. As the shark grows, this coat will gradually change to become spotted.įor the time being, the young sharks are growing in the reserves under the watchful eye of the team of keepers before heading to their aquarium in the exhibition. The juveniles measure around 30 centimetres at birth and have a striped coat like that of a zebra. They were able to establish that the eggs were viable and the baby sharks were born after a few months of observation and patience. The keepers recovered the eggs and transferred them to an incubation tank in the reserves. These eggs, which look like ray eggs, are capsules of keratin in which the embryos develop. The zebra sharks Stegostoma tigrinum have mated and Nausicaá's keepers who keep a daily eye on what is happening in the aquariums soon spotted the eggs laid by the female. They are kept in aquaria.They arrived at Nausicaá as youngsters in 2011 and have now reached sexual maturity. They are taken in many fisheries and their coral reef habitat is threatened. Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Tend to be sluggish by day and more active at night. Often seen resting, propped up on their pectoral fins, mouth open, facing the current. Lays large dark brown to purple-black egg cases anchored to the bottom with tufts of fibers. Prey – Mollusks, crustaceans and small bony fishes. Indo-west Pacific tropical and continental and insular shelves, eastern Africa to Japan, New Caledonia and Palau. Adults and juveniles rest in coral reef lagoons and channels, but the striped young are rarely seen and may be in deeper water (>50 m). Most of these sharks average slightly more than 8 ft, and maximum size is thought to be just over 11 ft. Males mature between 4.7 to 6 ft, while females mature around 5.5 to 5.75 ft. The shark is approximately 8 to 14 inches when hatched. These saddles break up into spots in sharks 20 to 35 inches in length, and are more uniformly distributed on large sharks. The young are yellowish below, dark brown above with vertical yellow stripes and spots separating dark saddles. Its body has very distinct ridges and spots. A large, slender shark with a large broad tail as long as its body.
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