Lone sharks

A shark embryo wriggles in its egg as Donnha Barbara points at its tiny gills, noting it might be some six more months before it hatches. The nursehound egg lies alone in a fish tank next to other controlled aquariums housing small-spotted catshark eggs, another endangered species. Ms Barbara is following an extended diploma course in fish management at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and has a work placement at the Malta Aquaculture Research Centre in Fort San Luċjan, limits of Marsaxlokk. She has been entrusted with a project in collaboration with Sharklab Malta to hatch about 20 nursehound (scyliorhinus stellaris) and small-spotted catshark (scyliorhinus canicula) eggs with the aim of reintroducing them in the wild to compensate for their declining numbers, as large quantities of the species are being caught by fishermen as by-catch. Eggs are removed by Sharklab members from dead sharks at the fish market and checked for viability at Fort San Luċjan before being placed into controlled aquariums. Eggs have even been retrieved from sharks that had been dead for seven days. Ms Barbara documents their development and makes sure the water conditions and...