Whale sharks in Okinawa Chura Aquarium

I had heard about this, but had never seen a photo of it. I've read that they rotate them in from the wild every couple of months. Anyone have more info?

Hotlinked from Yahoo News Story:

ROFL

Confused. There is no joke here.

A link: more info about whale sharks in the okinawa aquarium

And this quote "Fish did not grow legs to colonize the land as previously thought, but to prop themselves up underwater 370 million years ago, according to US scientists who published a study."

is about this:

http://www.nature.com/nsu/040329/040329-16.html

"The discovery suggests that early animals used their arms for more than just splashing around in the water; they could have been doing press-ups instead."

I thought it was a joke before I visited the aquarium's website:

**Okinawa Chura-Umi Aquarium

will be opened at November 1st in this year !

 

The new aquarium will be opened at November 1st in this year under the theme of "encounter with sea of Okinawa".

 

Visitors can watch four or five big class of whale shark in the Kuroshio Tank through the panorama window.

 

In addition to this tank, visitors can watch vividly colored coral  

in Coral Tank and touch the living thing of sea. You can enjoy  

the fantasy of sea.

 

 

Above The biggest panorama window in the world

 

This panorama window use acrylic panel which is proof  

against the 7,500 ton pressure of the water. This panel 7  

by 21 meters have a thickness of 60 centimeters.

Now - I gotta go there!

James

Interesting follow-up as a result of Eric's link.

The new aquarium in Atlanta wants to have a whale shark. Initial reaction - no! But Dr. Bruce Carlson from the Waikiki Aquarium is the "man with the plan" for the Atlanta Aquarium and Dr. Carlson knows his stuff and is highly respected.

I wonder what will happen.

James

Not to sure I agree with such a large animal being kept in confined quarters such as this.

If the normal routine of the animal is to circle around an area the size of the tank than maybe that is fine but I am guessing that is not the case.

Is the argument that the educational benefit and potential to increase awareness of the ocean the offset to the confinement? That may be acceptable...

Might make for an interesting thread on this subject.

I know Bruce; I was on a liveaboard with him and his wife for two weeks in the Solomons. He and his wife (both Phd's and professional aquarists; she's a curator at the Florida Aquarium) are indeed widely known and respected-- among other things, they both have a species of fish named after themselves. OK, not exactly their lead scientific credential; but it was an interesting side note. Anyway, I'll ask him in general about whale sharks and aquariums. As for Atlanta, specifically, I don't know what he's allowed to disclose about Atlanta; there is apparently a sort of pre-IPO (ok, I don't know what you'd call it for an aquarium opening, but in corporate-talk, there seemed to be a limit on what he can say publicly before it opens) limit on the comments he can make about Atlanta. But he sure knows his fish; he built up the Waikiki Aquarium, and was a pioneer in the field of live coral cultivation, as I understand it. So he will have an informed opinion-- whatever it is. Of course, those folks that are opposed to keeping wild animals in enclosures will probably take issue with it; but let me at least see if I can get ahold of him.

As far as Japanese environmental awareness goes....whoa, that's another thread. I just got back from a week there. Let's just say that as far as mainstream Japanese pop culture goes, there's work to do.

After the captive ones die.

Uh, there's an old story about a captive whaleshark. The quick version. Whaleshark held captive as it was being returned to health. Held in netted off area. While they were treating the whaleshark, it became a tourist attraction, people paying money to swim with it. The whaleshark died, so what do you do? Go get another whaleshark. Pass it off as the same whaleshark that you are still nursing back to health so you can keep making money off it.

A real scam. Maybe even a scamola.

I did a little more web research.

According to the Shark Research Institute (SRI), as James noted, the Atlanta Aquarium has proposed that they be allowed to exhibit whale sharks. Here is a link to the SRI homepage, which highlights a link to their position paper on the subject. www.sharks.org Short version: the SRI is opposed to keeping whale sharks in captivity.

In addition, according to a website called Destinations Belize, the Atlanta Aquarium was at one point seeking an agreement to capture a whale shark from Belizean waters. On this website, opposition to the proposal is voiced from an activist perspective, and it is later noted that the Aquarium's proposal was withdrawn. www.destinationsbelize.com/news.htm (page down toward the bottom of the page; entries for 1/27/04).

Given the above, it looks like this may be an ongoing controversy.

Whale sharks have a pretty big range in the wild, definitely larger than your average tank (something like the size of the Indian Ocean, I think). You tend to get different types of whale sharks in different places - eg pregnant females near Taiwan (make good eating). We get the young males visiting this part of the world, should be in my neighborhood in a month or two's time, if anyone's going to be in the NW of Australia.

Whale shark + tank = bad idea, IMHO.