Reef madness

Kirk Baird

Monday, July 3, 2000 | 8:39 a.m.

What: Shark Reef.

When: Open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Where: Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

Cost: Adults, $12.95; children 12 years old and under, $9.95. There is a $3 discount for Nevada residents.

Information: Call 632-4580.

Face it: Since "Jaws" first terrorized moviegoers 25 years ago, sharks have been in dire need of an image overhaul.

Viewed as mindless predators that rule the deep, the sleek, jagged-tooth fish seem to tap into a primeval fear: that despite all of our technology and know-how, mankind is not necessarily at the top of the food chain -- at least when it comes to the ocean.

So is it any wonder that when Mandalay Bay hotel-casino decided to build an aquarium attraction, it opted to capitalize on those fears?

The result is Shark Reef, a $40 million aquarium covering more than 90,000 square feet that holds more than 1.5 million gallons of seawater. As for the living attractions, Shark Reef features approximately 2,000 animals, including the endangered golden saltwater crocodile (there are only 12 in the world and Shark Reef has three, with two more on the way) and two sea turtles.

In addition, there are two Nile crocodiles and several moray eels, southern stingrays, angelfish, puffer fish and radiated lionfish, as well as hundreds of moon jellyfish. (Housed in an oval tank that's bathed in black light, the white, iridescent jellyfish gently rise and sink, creating an aquatic version of a lava lamp.)

But it's the sharks that garner most of the attention.

Ranging in size from a 12-foot nurse shark to 1 1/2-foot baby zebra sharks -- which are in a small "touch tank" -- patrons stop and stare at the fish, often pointing as they swim by. In most cases, there are only several inches of acrylic panel separating man and fish.

In many ways it's as close as most people will ever come to a shark -- and it's quite a sight, especially in the Shark Reef tank where 11 sand tiger sharks -- menacing teeth in plain view -- cruise through the 22-foot-deep tank.

In keeping with Mandalay Bay's theme of a mythical oasis paradise, Shark Reef was designed to look like a forgotten temple that's slowly sinking into the ocean. As patrons "descend" into the ruins, they get deeper and deeper into the ocean, culminating in oval tunnel aquariums -- where fish swim on both sides as well as above and below -- and the Shark Reef tank.

Ultimately, as stated in a press release, the idea was to make a "totally sensory experience."

Still, as impressive as Shark Reef is "below" the surface, there's just as much going on behind the scenes.

On the job

It's just past 7:30 a.m. and Hugh Purgley, Shark Reef curator, makes the rounds as he does every day, seven days a week.

Like a doctor checking on his patients, Purgely goes from exhibit to exhibit and watches the animals. He observes their behavior, respiration rate and -- if possible -- even counts them to see if any are missing.

Purgley, who has a degree in marine biology, also checks the water, looking at both its flow and levels. And because this is a public aquarium, he looks at the aesthetics as well, such as excessive algae growth, which could partially obscure the exhibits.

Later that morning he meets with various personnel and discusses any problems he has found, as well as any on-going projects. He also helps prepare food -- both morning and afternoon meals.

The food itself is prepared every morning in a special kitchen -- usually 20 pounds a day, Monica Brazel, senior aquarist, said. This process typically takes up to two hours.

And while Brazel said that the staff tries to duplicate what the fish would eat in the ocean, they also have to supplement their diet with healthier foods, "just to make sure the animals are getting the necessary vitamins they need."

To do this, she said they create a gelatin food, consisting of different types of vegetables, such as zucchini, spinach and a lot of broccoli. The mix is then pureed, gelled, chopped and fed to the fish -- individually, in most cases, Brazel said.

"This enables us to know which animals are eating and which ones are not," she said.

Sharks and stingrays, though, are on a different diet.

The smaller sharks and 'rays, which are fed daily, get a "shark gel," consisting of fish, squid, krill and vitamin supplements. The larger sharks, which typically eat three times a week, are fed a combination of squid -- which has a vitamin supplement inserted -- fish and krill.

And that's where the divers come in.

When the shark bites

It's just after 10 a.m. and Larry Rowlett and Corey Egan, two of Shark Reef's life-support aquarists (read: divers), prepare to dive into a tank to check on the coral.

The coral pieces, all of which are fake, were installed shortly before Shark Reef opened, explained Pierre Sylvestre, diving curator, so there wasn't an opportunity to see how securely fastened the coral is to the backdrops.

Rowlett and Egan, both of whom are professional divers, slowly enter the water -- which is kept between 74 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's a bit cold for someone such as the smaller, thinner Sylvestre, who said he can only dive about 30 minutes in the tanks before he "begins freezing." But Rowlett and Egan typically go from one to two hours during each dive.

Their job is simple: "We provide all the support for the animals," Rowlett said. "We also keep and maintain all the pumps and filters in the system."

They also take time to pose for pictures while in the tanks and to smile and wave at children, who often seem more fascinated by the humans than their marine-life counterparts.

One possible goal is for the life-support aquarists to begin feeding the larger fish -- including the sharks -- by hand on a regular basis. For that, the divers would don roughly 20-pound chain mail for protection against the shark's razor-sharp teeth.

It's not that the sharks will attack you, said Sylvestre, who was the first to test out the armor and its effectiveness in the tank. "It's for protection in case they accidentally bite you while you have fish in your hand," he said.

When asked if that risk was a bit frightening, Rowlett, who at 56 considers himself "the old man on the mountain," simply smiled. "I've been doing it too long to get nervous," he said.

A desert oasis

"It's a fun job," Francis Beland, director of Shark Reef, said. "(But) it's not the problems you would normally get in the morning. It's not like my secretary didn't come in."

Rather, his problems come in the form of the aquatic life. "When you deal with animals, they're like kids," he said. "They can't eat by themselves, they can't clean themselves ... it's like I have 2,000 kids."

Still, it's a job for which Beland's been preparing for quite a while. He has a bachelor's degree in marine biology and a master's degree in applied management, and previously served as director of consulting for the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre.

Beland said that he first arrived at Shark Reef in 1999, but that the notion for the aquarium was hatched four years earlier. Still, it wasn't until three years ago that the concept of Shark Reef began, after the idea and a "reasonable budget" were ironed out.

Construction for Shark Reef began 15 months ago and "was crazy. I lost all my hair," the thinning-haired Beland joked. But, he said it was a lot easier to build an aquarium when it's privately owned than when it's owned by a city, state or government.

"It takes years and years to get the loans and permission" to build as well as to cut through bureaucratic red tape, he said. "We went straight with what we wanted to do without stopping for anybody. That makes a big difference."

But there were some obstacles. Perhaps the most daunting of those was the fact that the aquarium would be smack-dab in the middle of the desert. And unlike an aquarium on the coast, which can tap the ocean directly for saltwater, Shark Reef had to turn to other methods to provide the proper environment for the fish.

"Here we had to make our own seawater," Beland said.

This meant using an Israeli product called Red Sea Salt, a type of dehydrated saltwater that contains salt and other trace elements that are found in natural sea water, and mixing it with local water.

The dehydrated salt concentrate is combined with thousands of gallons of tap water weekly in brine tanks to keep saltwater compositions consistent. More than 90 percent of the water is recycled from Shark Reef's own sources. (Shark Reef is the only North American facility to use Red Sea Salt.)

Of course, what good is an aquarium without fish?

To acquire aquatic life, Shark Reef worked with other aquariums, as well as suppliers in Florida and Indonesia, a process that took about a year. "We do try to work with animals that are available in the zoological world before going out and capturing them," Beland said.

But before the collection could be gathered, there had to be a place to house the animals. So the Husbandry Center, a building where a "good portion" of the animals were quarantined and monitored before they were put in to Shark Reef, was built. The center is still in use, housing animals to be placed in the exhibit in the future.

Now that Shark Reef is up and running, Beland expects smooth seas ahead. He also plans to update the facility every two or three months with new features to generate repeat business.

"I won't sit still for a long time," he said. "You can't build an attraction in Las Vegas and let it sit without it going down."

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