Save up to £25 with special Sea Life voucher in the Mercury!

There must be something in the water at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre – staff are in the grip of an unprecedented baby boom.

In the space of three days no fewer than six baby Thornback Rays, a brood of baby Malawi Cichlids and hundreds of baby Guppies and Tetras have been born.

Delighted displays staff are also nurturing dozens of baby Upside Down Jellyfish, and now a pair of South American “Oscars” have begun busily preparing a nest.

“We took more ray eggs out of our main display tank, and at least 20 of them seem to be fertile,” said Curator Christine Pitcher.

“It’s the right time of year for a baby boom, but I don’t recall ever having so many youngsters appearing at once before,” she said.

The Tetras and Guppies share their tank with two African Dwarf Crocodiles, but are too tiny to attract the attention of these stealthy predators.

“You have to look for a while before you spot them,” said Christine, “but once you get your eye in you can see literally hundreds.”

Christine and her team are also still hopeful that their largest resident Aphrodite the Nurse Shark may soon follow suit and produce offspring after a recent flurry of mating activity with male Hercules.

“That would certainly be a happy event to look forward to next year,” she added.

See this week’s Mercury for a voucher that could save you up to £25 to visit Sea Life and see the new babies!