A dark grey shark, a couple of feet long, stuck its nose out of the water of the round white tank, one of three occupied outdoor tanks at the Hall of Science building. “They’re pretty smart,” said Brayden Ortiz, one of the volunteers at the California State University Long Beach Shark Lab.
Visitors get to look inside the tanks. Wooden steps meant to support two people at a time where provided by a carpenter who offered to help the Shark Lab.
Ortiz explained that the tank occupants would put their nose out of the water because people might possibly bring food or to observe what’s going on.
The occupants of this particular tank included a horn shark, a leopard shark and a grey smooth-hound shark. There were also round rays and orange-colored bat stars. The horn shark is one of those sharks that can rest on the bottom. Great whites are one of those species that have to keep moving.
Two volunteers and Dr. Chris Lowe were waiting for a group of visitors from Peer 1 on 1, a Cypress organization serving families with special needs. According to Dr. Yuping Mao, an associate professor with the Department of Communications Studies at CSULB. She is also the adult leader of the Beach Cities Branch of Peer 1 on 1.
According to Mao, nine neurodiverse kids and 10 Peer 1 on 1 volunteers joined the most recent tour, held Saturday, Nov. 9. The number of visitors made it necessary to break up the visitors into two groups. Mao initiated and organized the tour.
“The vision for the Beach Cities Branch of Peer 1 on 1 is to plan and host STEM and arts related activities that create opportunities for social inclusion between neurotypical and neurodiverse communities,” wrote Mao.
Visitors look at sea life in one of the tanks at the California State University Long Beach Shark Lab.
“Through this tour, we hope to give neurodiverse kids the unique STEM educational opportunity to experience and navigate the research environment of marine science. Meanwhile, our high school volunteers can not only gain knowledge and insights of the research the labs conduct but also practice their skills of interacting and working with neurodiverse kids,” Mao said.
Lowe said the CSULB lab is one of the few that is open to public tours. Lowe said about 7,000 visitors a year tour the lab.
Volunteer Javier Mata told an early arrival that the round rays were the ones that you have to worry about. Volunteers and students at the lab (currently two grad students according to Mata) are familiar with the frequency of stingray stings in Seal Beach.
Hanging above the three tanks was the SOS II, an enclosed submersible vehicle that allowed early shark researchers to study reef sharks. According to a sign, the dome and sides were covered with scratches from shark teeth.
Inside the lab, decorated with shark posters and an inflatable great white hanging from the ceiling, was another round white tank. The tenant living in that tank was a small leopard shark. Ortiz put its age at five months. Dr. Lowe put its age at less than a year.
Mata said the lab was founded in the 1960s.
“The mission of the Shark Lab is to study sharks, rays and gamefishes using new technology to answer questions about their behavior and ecology previously unknown. Another goal is to get that information out the public as quickly as possible. Ultimately, our goal is to keep people and sharks safe,” Lowe wrote in a follow up interview.
The lab is among the oldest of its kind. “Dr. Nelson, who was the founder, was of the 1stgeneration of trained shark biologists. He and a colleague, Dr. Samuel Gruber each formed shark research labs at the same time (Nelson’s at CSULB and Gruber at Univ. of Miami). Both are still in existence, making the CSULB Shark Lab one of the oldest,” Lowe wrote.
The visitors gathered around the tank and answered questions. One guest speculated that the leopard shark might eat microscopic food. Mata said the leopard shark eats whatever is on the bottom. Mata said in the wild the leopard shark would grow to about 5 feet. He said the little shark in the tank wouldn’t grow much bigger.
Visitors also got to handle a variety of shark jaws, including the jaws of a young great white. On a nearby wall, two larger great white jaws were on display. Mata said those jaws belonged to great whites that would be transitioning to larger prey.
Another set of jaws belonged to a thresher shark. Mata pointed to a thresher shark tail displayed nearby. The tail appeared to be 5 or 6 feet long. Mata said a thresher shark’s tail was about half the length of the shark.
Skin mounted on a piece of wood was passed around for visitors to touch. Run your fingers against the grain of a shark’s skin and that skin will feel like sandpaper.
Guests at the Shark Lab were not allowed to touch the living sharks. (For that, visit Shark Lagoon at the Aquarium of the Pacific.)There was, however, a touch tank inside another room in the shark lab. A creature with tendrils pulled away from the touch of an adult’s fingers.
Outside, Lowe warned the guests not to put their fingers in the tank with the kelp bass. They might mistake fingers for squid. Lowe also warned visitors that the kelp bass were known to spit water. No spitting was observed.
The lab’s future depends on funding.
“Our State funding runs out this month and because of the State budget we were not refunded,” Lowe wrote.
“If I don’t find more funding from private or Foundation sources, we will no longer be able to offer many of the public services we provide. If we get refunded, we have big plans… we are developing an autonomous shark monitoring system that will work along SoCal beaches, expand our telemetry buoy network and make the data available to the general public, open a state of the art public education center,” Lowe wrote.
Near the end of the tour, Lowe began putting out stacks of Beach Days Comic Books, a series about beach safety put out by the lab. One issue was “Shark Spies.” Lowe writes the stories.
“We are happy to schedule tours of the CSULB Marine Lab and the Shark Lab for K-12 classrooms. For more information and to schedule a visit, please contact Yvette Ralph at Yvette.Ralph@csulb.edu,” according to the CSULB website.
“We are also happy to schedule tours of faculty research labs for high school and community college biology or marine biology clubs. To organize such events, please contact Dr. Gwen Goodmanlowe goodmanlowe.csulb@gmail.com,” according to the CSULB website.
For more information about Peer 1 on 1, visit peer1on1.org or email peer1on1forautism.com.