Kids and parents poured into the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz on Sunday for a chance to do something they never imagined: pet a shark and live to tell about it. To mark the Center’s tenth anniversary, it unveiled its new shark tank, stocked with swell sharks. Swell sharks are generally harmless to humans and pose no threat to divers. Nevertheless, people were warned to, “Use two fingers only, touch gently on the middle of the back … don’t touch near their heads.” Still, it is an experience not to be missed, and great cause for boasting among kids and adults alike, “I pet a shark!”
In the 10 years since it was founded, the Westside center, which overlooks Monterey Bay, has hosted over half a million visitors. Among its most popular attractions is a full skeleton of a blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on this planet, standing 18 feet tall and 87 feet long, It may soon be competing with the 3-foot long swell sharks, though. After all, whale skeletons don’t bite. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
