Living Las Vegas

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Sharks on Parade

Everyone knows that all the sharks in Las Vegas are in casinos, and nowhere is this more delightfully true than at Mandalay Bay. Shark Reef is a beautifully designed aquarium that boasts not only sharks but also a fascinating array of other aquatic creatures, some of which you can even touch.

I checked out Shark Reef on a weekday morning. I didn’t have to wait in line, but the place was far from empty. A naturalist was impressing a group of elementary school children with a vivid description of the disgusting things Asian water monitors like to eat, and there was a fair-sized crowd of tourists of every age and ethnic persuasion oozing past the tanks and enclosures, most holding “audio wands” to their ears. An “audio wand” comes with the price of admission, and the narrative it provides is number-coded to each exhibit.

In addition, naturalists are posted throughout the aquarium to answer questions. One of them was standing next to the piranha tank, a large aquarium heavily populated with several species of the infamous South American predators. I asked her whether the piranhas go into a frenzy when they’re fed, but she assured me they stayed calm. “They even make good pets,” she said, but she also informed me that it’s illegal to own them privately in Nevada. “But not in Idaho,” she added.

Many of Shark Reef’s enclosures and exhibits are designed to look like the ancient ruins of an Atlantis-like civilization. Rare golden crocodiles from Thailand loll near fallen columns. Eels slither in and out of “ancient” amphoras, and a large Asian water monitor basks on rough-hewn monoliths. The atmosphere is warm and humid, a recreation of the tropical climate where most of Shark Reef’s denizens live. In one room, an open pool is stocked with a couple of different kinds of rays, several horseshoe crabs, and even a small shark. The naturalist on duty encourages anyone who’s curious to touch the creatures as they mosey by. I touched a ray — it was rougher than it looked.

The sharks of Shark Reef do not match the huge open-jawed specimen featured prominently on billboards, but what they lack in size is made up for in quantity. Two of the large aquariums have walk-through glass tunnels, and watching sharks and other fish swim overhead, underfoot and on both sides is truly entrancing. The viewing area for the biggest aquarium is designed to look like a sunken pirate ship. From the “ship,” you can peer into 1.3 million gallons of sea water holding forty sharks, sea turtles, moray eels, stingrays, barracudas, tarpons, snappers, and jacks.

Because its exhibits are alive, Shark Reef is constantly evolving. I first visited when a few years ago, when the aquarium was new, and many of the fish were small. Since then, many have grown, one big hammerhead shark has died, and more species have been added. The changes are a reminder that Shark Reef is worth revisiting, and the nice locals discount is an added incentive.

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