Clark County Fairgoers encounter sharks

The Shark Encounter began with the infamous music from the movie “Jaws” and then the hydraulic door rose to reveal three nurse sharks swimming back and forth in the 5,000 gallon aquarium.

Philip Peters, who dove with the sharks, introduced the three sharks as Loretta, Jimmy, and Ebby.

Peters, who has been doing the show for 20 years, interacted with each of the sharks, showing and explaining the different parts of the sharks anatomy and their habits. And while nothing bloody occurred during the show, Peters admitted that he had been bitten before.

“Yeah, I’ve been bit a couple of times,” he said. “But it comes with the territory and luckily these guys bite and let go.”

Peters explained to the crowd that nurse sharks can’t be trained or recognize humans because of their short term memory.

“It doesn’t matter if you or me jumps into the tank, they wouldn’t recognize me, but we would all taste like chicken to them!”

“Nurse sharks are pretty docile,” Peters added, “But you still have to look out for them. To me, though, they are the sharks with the most character.”

Fairgoers enjoyed seeing the sharks close-up.

“My favorite part was when he flipped the shark over,” Aiden Dexter said. During the performance, Peters had taken the largest shark and turned the shark onto its back, explaining that the position puts sharks into a trance.

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At the end of the performance Peters gave Dexter a shark tooth for helping him demonstrate at the beginning of the show that the glass wall was sturdy and wouldn’t break, releasing the sharks onto the audience.

Dexter was excited, saying, “I’m going to collect shark teeth now!”

Shark Encounter show will be performing every day for the remainder of the fair at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

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