(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest zoo is adding sharks to its Big Reef Aquarium for the first time. Two bamboo sharks, named Snoopy and Pluto, were introduced this week at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. Zoo spokesman Alex Payne says the light brown, spotted sharks are slender and about two feet long, but they may eventually grow up to four feet.

“They’re cute little sharks, but they do like to hide, so you’ll find them around the bottom of the aquarium most of the time,” Payne says. “They’re a lighter color, so sometimes they’ll come out and you’ll see them pop out, and it’s pretty cool to be able to stand there and just watch them interact with the exhibit.”

Payne says the zoo’s excited for visitors to connect with this new species and appreciate the rich diversity that makes our planet’s oceans so extraordinary. “This is the first time that we have had sharks at the zoo,” Payne says. “We were looking for some new species to introduce into our aquarium and they were a perfect match. We have the size of aquarium that we could fit them in, and it adds something a little additional to the aquarium for guests to be able to interact and engage with.”

Bamboo shark (Blank Park Zoo photo)

Sharks have a reputation for being predatory, but Payne doesn’t expect any trouble with the other fish in the 15,000-gallon aquarium. “We make sure that when we do put animals together that they will interact with each other in a positive way,” he says. “Our keepers make sure that they work with the sharks and they’ll make sure that they’re well fed and have the enrichment items that they need to make sure that there won’t be any sort of conflict with the other animals.”

June 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the classic shark horror film “Jaws,” and some Iowa theaters are holding special screenings this weekend, though Payne insists, it’s just a happy coincidence.