Shark Tank at Coral World Ocean Park, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 02-03-2011

Baby sharks swim casually around their temporary home at Coral World. Female sharks give birth in shallow waters where there are fewer predators to disturb them, and almost immediately depart, leaving the pups to fend for themselves. The strongest ones survive of course, but their numbers are dwindling, so Coral World routinely rescues pups to raise them to maturity in a safe environment with abundant food in the tank to help them learn survival skills. All the smaller fish in the tank are shark food, Upon maturity, the sharks are released back into the wild far enough away from the snorkel and scuba attractions as to be no danger to the guests, but in deep enough water to find their own prey without much difficulty.

My iguana friend had no hesitation to rest on the edge of the tank with the tip of his tail submerged an inch or two into the water, perhaps just to tease the sharks. Caribbean Iguanas are awesomely bad-ass reptiles, more impressive than I ever imagined.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Shark
• iguana
• coral
• world
• ocean
• park
• St. Thomas
• US Virgin Islands
• Seasteading
• Reason
• Cruise