Sunshine Coast Grammar School
372 Mons Road
Forest Glen
QLD 4556
Phone : 0754774456
Tony Isaacson
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Shark cam and the miracle of life (February to April 2005)
Sunshine Coast Grammar School has put the miracle of life directly onto the Internet [link]http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/[link] We have extended the Adopt a Shark program supported by Underwater World at Mooloolaba by hatching a brownbanded bamboo shark embryo in a clear glass substitute for the opaque brown egg case of Chiloscyllium punctatum (Muller & Henle 1838). An egg was collected from the Underwater World shark tunnel on the 20th January, 2005. The 50 mm embryo was transferred to a glass jar on 22nd February while attached to a 25 mm diameter yolk. Fine blood filled filaments extended from the gill slits of an essentially transparent and wiggly worm. The development of this embryo will be witnessed by our school community and a tank gang of wrasse, gobies, blennies, butterfly fish, damsels and invertebrates from the Mooloolah River, the place where we expect our shark to be released at the end of the school year. If the embryo survives its first critical week, the camera should capture daily images to build a time lapse composite of the developmental process. Tony Isaacson has been hatching Port Jackson Sharks in South Australian schools since 1972 with almost 100% success. Now at Sunshine Coast Grammar School in Queensland, Tony, his students and the Information Technology staff are hoping to eclipse that experience with this Internet initiative. Our team apologises for technical difficulties that might cause us to discontinue this exciting venture. With the storm season upon us, anything could happen in a classroom based aquarium. This little embryo was likely to be the meal of a hungry predator the moment it hatched in the wild and we believe that our nurturing environment at the Grammar School will SAVE OUR SHARK. At 27 to 28 degrees celcius, the embryo will develop quickly over the weeks of March and April. We hope that you will visit shark cam to see what we believe to be a world first from a classroom.
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