THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607040546
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 68 lines
Wednesday morning, as visitors began to stroll through exhibits at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, an intense drama was played out near the museum's side entrance.
Inside a rental truck that had just pulled up, Beth Firchau, dressed in a black wetsuit, climbed into a crate full of water and slid a blue tarpaulin under a 6-foot-long sand tiger shark.
``OK, lift up your side,'' she said. ``I've got the sharp end.''
And up it came, water spouting everywhere as she and fellow marine biologist Allan Marshall lifted the surprisingly docile animal, walked hastily down the truck's ramp, lugged the bundle up a flight of stairs and edged out on a rocky ledge overlooking the Norfolk Canyon Aquarium.
Marshall unwrapped the sleek, gray predator, checked its jaws to make sure they weren't snagged on the tarp, and then the two lowered it into the water.
From a catwalk overlooking the aquarium, several members of the museum staff applauded.
``This is a big moment for us,'' said C. Mac Rawls, the museum's director.
As soon as the first of five sharks touched the water, what appeared to be an abrupt change in the tank's electricity occurred. Other fish, such as the crevalle jacks that had been swimming independently, seemed to go into a defensive huddle, schooling tightly together for protection.
In two trips, four sand tiger sharks and one brown shark, ranging in size from 4 to 6 feet, were trucked to the museum from a holding facility.
They were transported in rectangular boxes with water and air flowing over them. There were no hints of struggle as the sharks were introduced to their new habitat.
They joined two smaller brown sharks that were placed in the tank last week along with a bluntnose stingray and several species of smaller fish.
The new residents moved quietly and cautiously about the tank, which is modeled after a deep canyon off the coast of Virginia Beach. It is one of the places where they might once have roamed.
The sand tigers, with mouths gaping to reveal long, needle-like teeth, looked ominous. They swam with a territorial swagger but did not attack anything. Normally, they grab their small victims, mostly fish, and swallow them whole.
Like the other fish in the aquarium, the sharks are fed regularly. The sharks get a mix of fish, squid and vitamins, and conditioned to know when and where to expect their next meal.
People are not part of their diet, but that doesn't mean their handlers weren't extremely cautious, seeming to anticipate the sharks' behavior.
``If they really want to, they can do some damage,'' Firchau said.
``You can't put sharks in a situation where they feel threatened in any way. People get hurt when they force them to do something they don't want to do.''
Firchau and Marshall, both marine biologists on the museum staff, donned face masks and slipped into the aquarium. Marshall, wearing a weight belt, dropped to the bottom to check on the big sand tiger, hovering near the bottom, recovering from its ordeal. He spent nearly two airless minutes in one dive, inspecting each of the sharks in turn. ``They're doing very well,'' he said on emerging.
All seems well with the museum, too. The staff reported Wednesday that more than 55,000 people visited during the two weeks after the June 15 opening. That's well on track toward the goal of 600,000 visitors in the first year.
A big aquarium with slightly menacing sharks probably won't hurt. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MORT FRYMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
Marine biologist Allan Marshall releases a sand tiger shark into the
museum's Norfolk Canyon Aquarium Wednesday. by CNB