A ragged-tooth shark which has swum around in endless circles in Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium for the past six years has come home.
The shark was due to be released off the beach in Seavale near East London last night.
Reef, the 200kg “raggie”, was caught in the Mgwalana River at Birha in 2010 when she weighed 6kg and was one of five sharks to have formed part of the I&J predator exhibit at the waterfront aquarium, which will close for renovation later this month.
She was set free in the Eastern Cape to fall into current migratory patterns of fellow raggies and because Cape waters are too cold at this time of the year.
Reef and tank mate Nasa left Cape Town in a flatbed truck emblazoned with a banner proclaiming “Shark in Transit!” on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in East London early yesterday morning.
They made the trip housed in a 6000-litre tank complete with a life support system to maintain water quality.
At lunchtime yesterday the truck and its sharky contents attracted the attention of curious beachgoers at Kidds Beach, where three members of the Two Oceans Aquarium gave the sharks a refreshing water change.
Led by operations manager Tinus Beukes, half of the contents of the tank were drained before fresh seawater from the tidal pool was pumped in.
Both Reef and Nasa were supposed to have been released yesterday, but Nasa continued on the journey to Durban where she will be held at uShaka Marine World under the observation of a vet.
Beukes explained that Nasa had experienced slight inflammation at the spot where a Vemco transponder tag had been inserted under her skin.
“We tagged the raggies so as to monitor their migration patterns, but our vet decided she should go to to uShaka for a few weeks first and we were going there anyway to bring back some fish for our exhibit,” said Beukes.
And, while the sharks arrived yesterday morning, Reef could only be liberated into the Indian Ocean last night due to the availability of local helping hands.
“We need manpower and have friends in the angling club who have day jobs, so they can only help us in the evening,” he said yesterday.
He said Reef would receive a mild sedative both for her benefit and that of her handlers before being hauled across the beach on a stretcher.
“Once the seawater flushes through her gills she will wake up and swim away. Seavale has a lot of cave systems which are good for raggies and she will probably feed on mullet or reef fish. Raggies are chilled unless provoked.”
Beukes said the tag would monitor Reef’s movements.
Aquarium shark freed into EC ocean
The shark was due to be released off the beach in Seavale near East London last night.
Reef, the 200kg “raggie”, was caught in the Mgwalana River at Birha in 2010 when she weighed 6kg and was one of five sharks to have formed part of the I&J predator exhibit at the waterfront aquarium, which will close for renovation later this month.
She was set free in the Eastern Cape to fall into current migratory patterns of fellow raggies and because Cape waters are too cold at this time of the year.
Reef and tank mate Nasa left Cape Town in a flatbed truck emblazoned with a banner proclaiming “Shark in Transit!” on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in East London early yesterday morning.
They made the trip housed in a 6000-litre tank complete with a life support system to maintain water quality.
At lunchtime yesterday the truck and its sharky contents attracted the attention of curious beachgoers at Kidds Beach, where three members of the Two Oceans Aquarium gave the sharks a refreshing water change.
Led by operations manager Tinus Beukes, half of the contents of the tank were drained before fresh seawater from the tidal pool was pumped in.
Both Reef and Nasa were supposed to have been released yesterday, but Nasa continued on the journey to Durban where she will be held at uShaka Marine World under the observation of a vet.
Beukes explained that Nasa had experienced slight inflammation at the spot where a Vemco transponder tag had been inserted under her skin.
“We tagged the raggies so as to monitor their migration patterns, but our vet decided she should go to to uShaka for a few weeks first and we were going there anyway to bring back some fish for our exhibit,” said Beukes.
And, while the sharks arrived yesterday morning, Reef could only be liberated into the Indian Ocean last night due to the availability of local helping hands.
“We need manpower and have friends in the angling club who have day jobs, so they can only help us in the evening,” he said yesterday.
He said Reef would receive a mild sedative both for her benefit and that of her handlers before being hauled across the beach on a stretcher.
“Once the seawater flushes through her gills she will wake up and swim away. Seavale has a lot of cave systems which are good for raggies and she will probably feed on mullet or reef fish. Raggies are chilled unless provoked.”
Beukes said the tag would monitor Reef’s movements.
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