Chewie The Zebra Shark Leaving The Great Lakes Aquarium

DULUTH, Minn. — The Great Lakes Aquarium is saying a bittersweet farewell to Chewie the Zebra Shark, as he has now grown too large for his enclosure.

The Aquarium received the Zebra Shark almost 6 years ago from the Minnesota Zoo. He quickly became an aquarium favorite as visitors were able to watch him grow up right in front of them.

The Aquarium had hopes of building a larger enclosure to move him too, but due to Covid they had to look at other options. Next week he will be moving to a much larger exhibit in the Kansas City Zoo.

“It’s bittersweet. I’m sad for me, but I’m super happy for him. It’s definitely what’s best for chewies welfare. The exhibit that he’s going to was really designed with zebra sharks in mind. It’s about 30 times bigger than this exhibit he is currently in, so he is going to have a lot of space to navigate. And he is going to have other zebra sharks that will be co-habitants with him. So, in a lot of ways I’m really happy for him,” said Miranda Rinne, Curator of Aquatics.

After working with other aquariums, they found a new home for Chewie. His new enclosure will be 300,000 gallons and filled with other Zebra Sharks for him to get along with.