CLEARWATER, Fla. — Shark Week may be the Super Bowl of the summer for shark lovers, but at the Clearwater Aquarium, the education does not stop when the week ends.
Thelma and Bruce, two nurse sharks, call the aquarium home year-round — giving visitors a chance to learn about sharks up close while giving the animals a chance at a healthy life.
For the Brannam family, visiting from England, the experience was a first.
"We've never seen nurse sharks before, so it's been a really lovely addition to come to the aquarium today," Zoe Brannam said.
Brannam came to the aquarium with her husband Martin, and three kids, Libbey, Archie and Ettie.
When asked what they thought, the younger members of the family did not hold back.
"It's good. I like it a lot, said Libbey, who is 15.
"I love it!" said Ettie, who is eight.
Bruce moved into the aquarium in December, but Thelma's story goes back further. She was surrendered to the aquarium, with another nurse shark named Louise, after being illegally caught by a fisherman who initially tried to keep them as a pet.
Kourtney Laratonda, the aquarium's Aquatic Biology and Animal Connections Manager, explained how Thelma ended up there.
"Once he figured out they're pretty big, and they grow really fast, and he could not keep up with how much they ate and the overall care for them. He reached out to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is the right place to go to," said Laratonda.
While the aquarium's primary goal is to return animals to the wild, that was not possible for Thelma and Louise.
"That's always our main goal, get them back out into the wild, but due to them being fed by humans for a long period of time with the illegal fishermen, they were deemed unreleasable," Laratonda said.
Louise passed away a few years ago, but Thelma and now Bruce continue to thrive at the aquarium — turning Shark Week from a TV marathon into hands-on awareness.
"Humans pose a major threat to a lot of different shark and ray species. Um, one of every 3 shark and ray species is vulnerable or endangered, so it's up to us to really, really push education," Laratonda said.
Thelma, Bruce, and all the animals at the Clearwater Aquarium are available to visit year-round.
For more information, head to the Aquarium's website.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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