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Working with the real baby shark at the two oceans aquarium

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Working with the real baby shark at the two oceans aquarium

Hollywood would have you believe that sharks are all big and scary, but 10 billion views on YouTube's most popular video suggest otherwise - most sharks are "Baby Shark"!

Aquarist Leigh de Necker is one of the Two Oceans Aquarium team members that cares for our "Baby Sharks" - including dark shysharks. Dark shysharks (Haploblepharus pictus), also known as “Pretty Happys,” are a small shark species endemic to Namibia and western South Africa.

Darkshyshark Stefan Hurter

Equipped with super-powered sharky senses and incredible instincts, these little sharks know exactly what to do, where to hide and how to hunt from the day they are born.

These "Baby Sharks" might be cute, especially when they feel threatened and curl up into a little doughnut with their tail fins covering their eyes, but they really are an important species in our amazing kelp forest ecosystems. So, remember - baby sharks are just as important as the big ones!

If you'd like to visit our baby sharks for yourself, before they are released, you can spot them at our Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Exhibit's Shark Alley, or scattered throughout our other exhibits!

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