Mote SEA Shark Pups & Grown Ups
At Mote SEA, the ocean’s most misunderstood residents have a way of changing the conversation.
By Edit Sarasota Staff
At Mote SEA, the ocean’s most misunderstood residents have a way of changing the conversation. Sharks arrive in popular culture with a soundtrack of menace, but in Sarasota’s waters—and in the scientific work of Mote Marine Laboratory—they are studied as essential, vulnerable parts of a living system. Mote SEA Shark Pups & Grown Ups offers families a chance to replace fear with curiosity.
Designed to bring younger visitors and their adults into the same learning experience, the event places sharks at the center of an exploration of marine science and stewardship. The appeal is immediate: few animals inspire as much fascination as a shark, and fewer still offer such a useful opening for conversations about ecosystems, adaptation and the choices people make along the coast.
For Sarasota, that conversation carries particular weight. The region’s identity is tied to the Gulf of Mexico, from its beaches and fishing grounds to the bays and estuaries that support an intricate web of life. Mote’s researchers have spent decades investigating that web, including the biology, behavior and conservation of sharks and rays. Their work gives the event a local foundation rather than a purely sensational one. Here, a lesson about sharks is also a lesson about the waters beyond the shoreline.
The setting adds another layer. Mote SEA, Mote Marine Laboratory’s science education aquarium, was created as a place where visitors could encounter marine research in an accessible, hands-on environment. Its exhibits and programs connect the discoveries made by scientists with the questions asked by the public—an especially valuable bridge for children, who may begin with a dramatic image of a shark and leave with a more nuanced understanding of its role in the sea.
Shark Pups & Grown Ups is the kind of family outing that can continue after the visit, on a walk along the coast or during the next glimpse of a fin offshore. It invites children to ask bold questions and adults to look again at a familiar animal, this time through the lens of science rather than myth.
The program takes place Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Mote Science Education Aquarium, 225 University Town Center Drive, Sarasota. For families looking to spend time together while thinking more deeply about the Gulf—and the creatures that depend on it—the aquarium offers an engaging place to begin.