Big Bait : Lemon Shark Displayed to Lure Customers Into Reseda Aquarium

“That’s a magnificent piece of fish. It’s like in ‘Jaws.’ They got those dead eyes, that’s for sure.”

--Adlai Frederickson, Van Nuys fish hobbyist

Deep in the commercial heart of Reseda, a shark circles continuously, like a silent sentinel.

At 3 feet and 50 pounds, with small, dark eyes and protruding lower teeth, this is a most uncommon fish-store denizen among the more prosaic guppies, groupers and goldfish.

In fact, this lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, is the largest shark in retail captivity in Southern California. Though shy as juveniles fish, these predators can reach 11 feet as adults in their Caribbean environs, and reportedly have attacked humans.

The shark’s 4,000-gallon home, a saltwater tank 16 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet high, in California Aquariums on Reseda Boulevard, is also an extraordinary sight among fish stores. The showcase is believed to be the largest retail aquarium in the region.

And the shark is not the aquarium’s only fatal-looking attraction. The tank also features a 3 1/2-foot Mexican moray eel and two smaller leopard sharks. A monstrous, 25-pound Mexican lobster, scores of brilliantly colored angels, tangs, wrasses and corals, complete the aquatic portrait.

The aquarium, a marketing tool to lure buyers into the store, provides regular customers and the just-plain-curious an opportunity to see large marine creatures up close without traveling out of the San Fernando Valley.

On a recent Saturday, 11-month-old Melissa Frederickson pressed her ruddy face to the tank, her blue eyes wide, and squealed in delight as a sleek black French angelfish and blue tangs swam toward her. She seemed oblivious to the lemon shark above.

Gathering for Feeding Time

“She likes the fish,” father Adlai said as he held her up to the glass. “And they seem to like her.”

Shortly thereafter, about 30 patrons crowded around as employee Mark Schwartz climbed a ladder with a bucket of frozen squid in one hand and long plastic forceps in the other. Owner Eddie Zangwill cried out like a carnival barker for everyone to gather around.

It was feeding time in the shark tank.

As smaller fish gave it wide berth, the circling lemon shark tore off chunks of squid with a ferocity that provoked “oohs” and “aahs” from onlookers.

Then, Schwartz reached deep into the tank to dangle a morsel before a pair of silvery eyes peering from beneath a large piece of coral. Slowly, the eerie-looking moray emerged from its refuge--eyes glistening, jaws agape, its yellow-speckled, black body undulating like a snake rising under a charmer’s spell.

“God, that thing’s huge,” a blond woman exclaimed.

Then, just when Schwartz thought it was safe to keep his arm in the water, the lemon shark made a beeline for the squid, prompting the young man to withdraw in haste.

Eventually, the moray grabbed its dinner, which visibly made its way through its long, sleek body. Zangwill looked on approvingly: He has lost about $500 worth of fish that have wandered into the predator’s nook for a nap, never to re-emerge.

“It’s pretty fascinating to see something like this close up right in our neighborhood,” said John Franks, 30, of Reseda. “I never saw a shark feed before. We just came in to trade a fish.”

For some, however, visiting the shark tank is not enough.

“I’m spending $4,000 on an aquarium to get this little leopard shark,” Brad Dunton said with the fervor of the truly hooked. “I’m obsessed. It doesn’t matter what it costs anymore. I want the tank and the shark.”

The 32-year-old roofing contractor was there with his tape measure in hand. He is building a stand for the 240-gallon saltwater tank that will grace the dining room of his Reseda home. A former freshwater collector and breeder, he decided to dive into the hobby again when he set eyes on the bottom-dwelling, 2-foot leopard shark, named for its spotted appearance.

“When I saw him, that’s when I knew,” Dunton recalled. “I’m here every day to look at him. . . . It’s awesome, that’s all. Watching fish is better than watching TV. Just the colors of the fish. There’s no other pet like ‘em.”

Although his shark obsession may be extreme, Dunton is not alone in his fish fascination. Sales of tropical fish, aquariums and related supplies have increased significantly in recent years, with Southern California considered the nation’s fastest-growing market.

Sales reached $380 million in 1986, more than a quarter of all pet purchases nationwide, and the numbers are expected to be higher for 1987, said David Kowalski, publisher of Pets Supplies Marketing, a trade publication that keeps such figures.

The surge in popularity is attributed in part to improved technology, which has made it easier to maintain the more exotic and expensive saltwater fish and invertebrates, such as undulating anemones and shrimp. Versatile acrylic tanks have also led to stylish aquariums that can be used as centerpieces in a living room or dining room.

Lights and Bubbles

“They’re pretty,” Franks said of his fish. “They have a real calming effect with the light and the bubbles from the filter going up. It’s soothing.”

Besides, said his friend, Shannon Kelly, they’re easier to care for than a dog.

“You only have to take them for walks when it rains,” she quipped. “And, if you want more than one, you just have to put them in front of a mirror.”

They don’t do it with mirrors at California Aquariums.

Zangwill, who has been peddling fish for 26 years, rebuilt the swimming pool-size aquarium last summer after a January, 1987, fire destroyed an earlier model as well as the rest of the store. He has constructed a sophisticated underground filtration system that cleans and treats the 11,000 gallons of water used in the big tank as well as scores of smaller units storewide.

Besides proper water quality, the key to successful shark maintenance is space.

“They need particular amounts of room to allow their body to shut down and glide,” explained Mark Nalley, who has nine sharks in his 20,000-gallon back-yard aquarium in Orange and obtains sharks for Zangwill. “If the space is too small, it will burn the shark out by making it constantly swim and be under a load physiologically.”

Exceptions are the nurse and leopard sharks, commonly kept in aquariums, because they dwell on or near the bottom and often rest there. They are also among the least aggressive species. The lemon can breathe on the bottom as well, Nalley said, but needs a large tank because it becomes so large.

Nalley said California Aquariums is the only retail outlet he knows that keeps sharks as big as the lemon. “I would doubt if anyone else had a system large enough to maintain those sharks,” he said.

Making sharks accessible to so many people helps dispel the dominant mythology, popularized by the film “Jaws,” Nalley said.

“Most people think all sharks are great whites or man-eaters,” he explained “I think the public needs to be educated. If people can see those sharks and see them up close, it’s a benefit to the shark.”

Although considered to be among the more aggressive species, lemon sharks are unusually adaptable to captivity and are fairly docile if well fed. Employee John Deschaine actually pets the one at California Aquariums and pushes it away with his hands during feeding.

“Sharks are scavengers,” Deschaine said. “They have a very good sense of smell and sonar. If a fish is moving erratically, which means it’s sick or dying, they will zero in.”

The sharks have also been known to jump out of the aquarium--when spooked by something as harmless as a shadow. How do you return a shark to its tank? Very carefully.

“Sometimes a shark will grab a fish when he’s feeding in a frenzy and eat it by mistake,” explained Phillip Zangwill, Eddie’s son and the store’s fish-buyer. “A $200 fish.”

The lemon shark usually has an escort as it makes its rounds. A small, yellow pilot fish navigates alongside, gobbling up any food that escapes the shark’s powerful jaws.

The lemon shark cost Zangwill $400 wholesale, but he does not plan to sell it. He says he will donate it, probably to San Diego’s Sea World, which can provide a suitable environment when two sleek black-tipped sharks arrive from Hawaii to replace it.

If a customer has a large enough tank, Zangwill said, he will make the striking-looking black tips available for $1,000 apiece.

But, for the most part, the enormous aquarium is bait to entice hobbyists.

“It’s a nice draw because kids have never seen sharks up close,” Zangwill said. “When they see this, they just go nuts. They start yelling and screaming.”

Some, however, are not as enthralled by the cinematically celebrated predators.

Asked about the fearsome-looking sharks, 6-year-old Scott Braun replied, “I want the lobster!”