Surgery on a sandbar shark

In October 2008, with the help of a veterinary surgeon specialised in sharks, Nausicaa carried out a world first: surgery on one of Nausicaa’s sandbar sharks.  

A world first

First, the shark was anaesthetised to allow X-ray and ultrasound examinations. These examinations revealed the presence of a foreign object, probably metallic, in the shark’s abdomen. As a first step the shark was quarantined in an aquarium.

A few days later, the shark was again anaesthetised using clove oil, this time for surgery. But sharks must swim constantly in order to breathe. That is why, during surgery, a water-oxygen supply was used and fed into the shark’s mouth so that the animal could breath artificially. The surgeon then carefully removed the foreign object taking care not to cut any blood vessels or damage any internal organs. The foreign object turned out to be a large fish hook.

When the shark came around, it was still and passive. It was a worrying moment but after three hours of intensive care, it began to swim again and was quickly reunited with its companions.

Today, its wound has healed, and Nausicaa’s star guest is again feeding daily under the watchful gaze of visitors. In the wild this animal appears invulnerable. Yet, in contact with such human devices, it turns out also to be very fragile.

In a special programme shown from Nausicaa’s interactive TV platform “The Sea... Live”, Nausicaa tells this story to its visitors: how the shark carers noticed there was a bulge in the belly of this 20 year old and 2m long shark, and one of Nausicaa’s oldest guests, and then how, with the help of a veterinary surgeon specialised in sharks, the animal was anaesthetised and captured, taking great care not to injure it, or be bitten by it.