Aquarists at Hastings’ Blue Reef Aquarium have announced the names for their newly-arrived blacktip reef sharks following a naming competition.
The Rock-a-Nore Road wildlife attraction invited youngsters to choose names for the two male sharks and ran the competition for the entirety of the summer holidays.
The aquarium received close to 200 suggestions and staff have spent the past week sifting through entries before picking the winners.
After much debate, they opted for ‘Denzel’, which was suggested by eight-year-old Lewis Green from Essex and ‘Branston’ which was suggested by four-year-old Kaylum Scamp from Folkestone.
Blue Reef’s Leanna Lawson said: “We were delighted with the response we got from our guests and the number of names they came up with.
“It was really difficult to pick overall winners, but in the end we all agreed on two particular names which we felt suited the sharks the most”
Other names which were considered included; Bernard, Bruce, Harold and Jet.
As well as having sharks named in their honour, Lewis and Kaylum will also receive a year’s annual pass to visit the aquarium.
The blacktip reef shark is one of the three most common sharks inhabiting coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific along with the whitetip and grey reef sharks.
Belonging to the same family as the great white shark, blacktips only reach a maximum size of around 1.6 metres.
They are active predators and feed on a wide variety of prey including small fish, octopus, squid and crustaceans. They have also been known to eat sea snakes and even seabirds.
They give birth to live young which can hunt as soon as they are born.
Issued by Blue Reef Aquarium. For more information and to arrange interviews, picture or filming opportunities please contact Leanna Lawson or on 01424 718776.