Sea Life Helsinki to transfer two of its sharks to Germany

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Sea Life Helsinki will lose its two largest sharks today, as the tropical nurse sharks (ginglymostoma cirratum) Ben and Bill will be transferred to Germany. The nearly two-metre creatures have grown too big to fit comfortably into their tank in the Finnish capital.
      The sharks’ adoptive home in Germany will feature a 1.5 million litre pool - six times the size of their present habitat.
     
Sea Life Helsinki has not tried such a large-scale transportation of sharks before. The sharks will travel to Germany through Sweden and Denmark in two separate 2,500 litre-tanks loaded on a truck. The truck will also carry two additional tanks filled with reserve water.
      "The mere filling of the tanks with seawater is a project in itself", Sea Life display manager Markus Dernjatin comments.
      In addition to the nurse sharks, the main tank of Sea Life Helsinki is home to nine other species of shark and hundreds of smaller fish. Dernjatin and aquarium keeper Jouni Jaakkola will dive into the pool and capture the nurse sharks one at a time with a nylon net.
      "It may sound simple enough, but it is in fact extremely difficult. Presumably all the other inhabitants of the tank will be startled in the process"”, Sea Life Helsinki managing director Allan Malmström explains.
     
Normally nurse sharks are gentle creatures. It is possible, however, than when nervous they may harm the divers. Nevertheless, no medical doctors have been called in to stand by in case of difficulties.
      A stretcher will be used to carry the sharks one at a time into the truck. Nurse sharks have been known to survive on dry land for several hours. The journey from the Sea Life tank to the truck tanks should not take longer than a couple of minutes.
     
Ben and Bill are the only nurse sharks in Helsinki. In their new home in Oberhausen in Germany there have not been nurse sharks before.
      There was some competition between different aquariums as to which one would get to house the sharks. In the end, Sea Life Helsinki chose Oberhausen because of the relatively close proximity to Finland, and because of the ample size of the tank there.
      "Bill and Ben will be missed in Helsinki", Malmström admits, "but as they are a couple, maybe we’ll get to house their offspring one day."


Links:
  Sea Life Helsinki
  Fishbase: Nurse Shark

Helsingin Sanomat