Breeding animals in lake water is considered difficult. Nevertheless, the German Maritime Museum succeeds with smooth sharks - a unique selling point. Recently there were offspring again.
Stralsund (dpa / mv) - The German Maritime Museum in Stralsund has once again successfully bred smooth sharks. According to spokeswoman Almut Neumeister, the reproduction of the animals in captivity is a unique selling point in Europe. "Only we have managed to do this successfully so far," she said on Thursday when asked. Twelve animals were born in mid-June and are now about 35 to 40 centimeters tall. The "Ostsee-Zeitung" had previously reported.
So far, eleven animals have been born in Stralsund in 2017 and 2018. Other institutions have also tried to breed. It took a while in Stralsund to optimally adjust factors such as light, feed and temperature. At the moment, the juveniles lived separately. In about a year they could join the 21 large smooth sharks in the Atlantic Aquarium. "Or we'll give up too, but we can't say that yet."
According to Neumeister, smooth sharks eat fish or crustaceans and tend to stay on the ground. They live in groups, unlike some other sharks. Smooth sharks can grow up to two meters long. The Maritime Museum has kept the sharks native to the North Sea and North Atlantic since 2016. According to Neumeister, breeding is important because fewer animals would have to be taken from the wild for aquariums, for example. In addition to smooth sharks, the German Maritime Museum has also been breeding other species of fish and invertebrates for years.
