Whaleshark and the diver

[Judas BentHer]

Related:


Hundreds of whale sharks meet off the Mexican coast
Hundreds of whale sharks congregate each Summer, probably to reproduce
News Desk July 22, 2011

[leo-rcc]

Magnificent animals, I would love to see them in real life some day.

[The Magic Pudding]

I was surprised to here they are kept in aquariums, I don't know how happy they are there.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animalgui...shark.aspx

[Tiberius]

I was surprised to here they are kept in aquariums, I don't know how happy they are there.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animalgui...shark.aspx

If you ever get the chance to go to Georgie Aquarium, take it. I went a couple of years ago (also visited the Coke Museum) and it is an amazing experience.

[Autumnlicious]

I was surprised to here they are kept in aquariums, I don't know how happy they are there.

While I cannot speculate as to the sapience and therefore "happiness" of a whale shark, what I can note is that sharks are notoriously difficult to keep alive in aquariums, especially predatory sharks.

It is well worth nothing that even if the whale shark is not "happy", it certainly is surviving, which is much more than can be said of it's carnivorous brethren (to note, the Monterey Bay Aquarium kept a great white for a short duration, which is considered a record among aquaculture).

REF: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr..._ours.aspx

[Epimethean]

I did the whale shark dive at the Georgia Aquarium two summers ago. It is a pretty jaw-dropping experience, even for experienced divers due to the massive biodiversity. The biggest of the sharks is only twenty six feet long, so some measure smaller than the one in the picture above, but still a huge animal and incredible to see in the water. The hammerhead that swims with you throughout the dive is the real knockout to me, though, and the mantas are no slouches when they go into their feeding loops.

[The Grand Nudger]

The Florida Aquarium is nice as well. (should be shouldn't it) It's actually not a problem with keeping predators in captivity, more that salt water fish, as they move higher up the food chain, have a larger list of requirements than what one might find in freshwater aquaculture. In freshwater aquaculture predators are commonly used to reduce disease pressure from breeding, very easy to do. Not a lot of steps between input and predator.

[The Magic Pudding]

The Florida Aquarium is nice as well. (should be shouldn't it) It's actually not a problem with keeping predators in captivity, more that salt water fish, as they move higher up the food chain, have a larger list of requirements than what one might find in freshwater aquaculture.

As has been mentioned hammer heads are kept in captivity, whaler sharks (not whale sharks) are also kept in aquariums in NZ and Aus'.

[Epimethean]

Not too many have had great success with Great Whites yet, have they? I know a few have kept juveniles for six months or a year, but not much longer than that. It is fascinating to see these mega-aquaria: The big tank in Georgia is over 6,000,000 gallons, as I recall. It is bigger than a football field and depth varies between 20 and 35 feet. During my dive there, due to the spaz who was assigned as my dive partner, I actually had to surf over the back of a twelve foot sand tiger (which could have cared less: These fish are very well fed) while she flailed to get out of its way.

If you want to see the video they took of my group, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU8xw37pF98