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Vote now to name the new guitarfish at the Auburn Hills aquarium

SEA LIFE aquarium has new guitarfish

The new guitarfish at the SEA LIFE aquarium in Auburn Hills. (WDIV)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – It’s time to vote on the name for the new guitarfish at the SEA LIFE aquarium in Auburn Hills!

Name options

Workers at the aquarium got to know the guitarfish and offered three possible name options: Dolly Parton, Diggy Smalls, and Greta.

“We try to be a little bit creative,” Arndt said. “Dolly Parton, obviously, musician, guitar fish, that’s kind of where the connection came from. Diggy is like a shovel. They can often call it shovel nose guitar fish. That’s kind of where that one came from. And then Greta is another musician. So they’re all kind of somewhat related.”

But they wanted your input, too! So Local 4 viewers sent in hundreds of other name suggestions, and we picked the most popular: Fender and Stevie Ray.

Fender is inspired by the guitar brand, and Stevie Ray is pretty self-explanatory.

So we‘ve got our five finalists, and now it’s time to choose a name! You can vote in the poll below.

More about guitarfish

The guitarfish is 5 feet long and will eventually get to 8 feet when fully grown in 4-5 more years. The aquarium acquired her from its Minnesota branch. Now she just needs a name.

Visitors who see the guitarfish, or shovelnose ray, don’t know what it is. I think it looks like a mix between a shark and a stingray.

“Everyone‘s been really excited,” lead aquarist Amanda Arndt said. “A lot of people ask questions and don‘t know 100% know what she is because, as you said, it’s a very unique shape for an animal.”

Since the fish has a unique, flattened front side, and a shark-like backside, many people think it looks like a guitar or a shovel.

The one at SEA LIFE aquarium was born about four years ago in Minnesota. She was transferred to Detroit to live in a larger tank.

“They start out maybe about a foot long, so she‘s grown a decent amount, but it‘ll still probably take her 4-5 more years before she’s close to full size,” Arndt said.

Workers at SEA LIFE are keeping her on a strict diet to make sure she can live close to her longest-possible life span, which is around 30 years. Shrimp is among her favorite foods.


About the Author
Kim DeGiulio headshot

You can watch Kim on the morning newscast weekdays from 4:30 to 7 a.m., and frequently doing reports on the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.

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