Posted on 06/23/2005 10:49:05 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A great white shark mistakenly captured by fishermen died shortly after the Monterey Bay Aquarium transported it to an ocean holding pen.
The 5-foot, 60-pound shark was caught eight days ago off Huntington Beach before a 4 million gallon holding pen had been moved from storage in Mexico and set up in ocean waters off Malibu. Aquarium officials initially moved the female shark to a much smaller holding pool in San Pedro until the larger pen was ready.
The shark was finally moved to the ocean pen on Friday. It was found dead on Sunday.
"It seemed like a reasonable thing to do," said aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson. "Our husbandry staff had some comfort level." But he acknowledged that "something in transit took longer than it should have."
Researchers had not yet decided whether to tag and release the animal or move her north to the aquarium display. Another white shark that had been held for a record 198 days, drawing record visitors, was released back into the wild in March after growing too large and too aggressive.
The cause of death was under investigation. The animal had not eaten since her capture, but it was not clear whether that was caused by an injury, stress from her capture or an unknown medical condition. The results from a necropsy were not immediately available.
"The best indication is she just kind of ran out of gas from not having eaten," Peterson said.
The shark also had injured an eye, though it's not clear when or how that occurred.
"We didn't feel comfortable releasing it into the wild," Peterson said.
The death is not expected to affect the shark research program, though it does fuel debate over whether the aquarium should be trying to keep white sharks in captivity.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Great Whites don't do well in captivity.
Obviously these folks have never seen "Jaws 3D".
Trial and error seems like a poor way to learn how to hold these creatures. Does PETA know about this?
They're going to need a bigger tank.
Fish and chips for all!
A greatest hits album?
So she died a peaceful death, right?
Is there another way to learn how to hold them?
But they're perfectly comfortable moving around and it not eating at all. Sheesh.
Mostly true.
I had the good fortune of being at The Monterey Bay Aquarium the day their Great White was put on display. Cute little critter. It was quite comfortable there for over six months, and I think it would still be there if it hadn't started acting like a shark...
"We didn't feel comfortable releasing it into the wild," Peterson said.
It came from the wild, why not release it back into the wild?
Send for the experts in Florida.
I saw one of the Great Whites a few months ago while visiting Monterey. For all its notoriety, it was an elegant creature.
More likely a greatest 'hit' album.
I took my kid to Sea World once. He asked one of the experts there why they did not have a great white, and the response was "They don't do well in captivity. No one knows why, but they don't."
Recalling a very old joke....
"Their Greatest Hits album is a '45' and one side is instrumental."
Lucky you. I've seen many sharks before, but never a Great White. Had to be an incredible sight.
That's okay, "Great White" is a very old group.
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