The theme tune from one of Hollywood's greatest epics could provide the key for scientists hoping for love-shy sharks to mate and produce offspring at Blackpool's Sea Life Centre.

Staff at the Promenade's tourist attraction have begun piping the romantic music of Mozart, Beethoven and Puccini into the tank inhabited by Bloodnose, a 20-year-old male brown shark and 15-year-old female Lucy, who have failed to get amorous since being brought to the centre 12 months ago.

But it is the theme tune to Titanic which has led to the most response from the potential mum and dad according to workers at the centre.

Display supervisor Carey Duckhouse said: "We want to play them the kind of soft and emotional music that inspires powerful emotions in humans.

"We hope it's going to put them in a passionate frame of mind and get them mating.

"We played My heart Will Go On from Titanic and the sharks were certainly swimming very closely together, we hope it will do the trick."

Other romantic tunes which have been tried include Puccini's Nessun Dorma and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Although attempts to awaken desire in the fish might appear frivolous, Carey quoted a study at the Rowland Institute in Cambridge, USA, that found fish could listen and process music in a similar way to human beings.

Carey added that May and June is the mating season of the species and that the stress of moving this time last year could have affected them breeding.

If the pair do mate the gestation period for brown sharks is nine months and would result in between four and seven baby sharks, or pups as they are known.