The baby carpet shark, which hatched from an egg on Monday, is one of six Easter arrivals at the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre and Aquarium at Portobello.
The aquatic centre has a special programme for Easter, offering baby shark viewing, shark egg hunts, seahorse feeding, free rocky shore colouring books and fish feeding.
Visiting children can also decorate Easter shells and learn about marine eggs and babies from the sea.
The aquarium used to accommodate a few adult carpet sharks, which can grow to beyond a metre in length.
Juvenile carpet sharks can take more than a year to hatch from eggs, and a handful still within their cocoons can be seen at the aquarium.
The hatched baby sharks are hand-fed small pieces of fish daily.
A year-old carpet shark also on display shows the species' growth rate.
Adding to the young marine life at the aquarium over Easter are 3-month-old hapuku, in what is believed to be the first such exhibit in the South Island.
