The Aquariums has bred Wobbegong sharks. I never heared of a breeding of that species before in captivity, does anybody know if this is the world first ?
I dont think so...let me do some more research and I'll find out for you. I have seen this species in other US aquariums before.
wobbegongs of several species have been bred in captivity quite often. Just use google to come up with some results
I've also heard that the georgia aquarium wants to breed with its whale sharks. Does anybody know how things are going round this matter?
When I was there, a couple weeks ago, the Aquarium's docent said they weren't sure if they want to breed the whale sharks. He said that IF they suddenly have more baby whale sharks, they'll soon have a space problem. That would mean, according to the docent, either sending some of theirs to other aquariums (none other in this Hemisphere has room for them) or outright releasing them back into the wild. One additional reason this could be a problem is that their current four whale sharks are now only half the size that they may end up growing to. Right now, their 4 whale sharks range from 17 to 23-feet long, but they all "could" grow to be over 40 feet long. If so, they have no room for more of them!
I dont quite think the aquarium would have a say in the matter if the Whale Shark successfully bred...unless there are contraceptives for sharks now. Georgia Aquarium has plenty of intentions with breeding Whale Sharks....why else would they intentionally bring in female Whale Sharks. I also remember reading back when the aquarium opened that the tank is built to house 6 whale sharks. CNN.com - Aquarium plays whale shark matchmaker - Jun 4, 2006 And ss Anyhuis mentioned, their current whale sharks are rather small, maybe their not fully sexually mature yet to have pups. It may be some time before any hopes of breeding.
Breeding the whale sharks, would not only be exciting - it would be species saving. Considering (because its a zoological setting) if all the pups survived (I recall whale sharks have dozens of kids) and they were released in the wild, the population in the wild would increase significantly. The only problem is they would have to remain in captivity until they are large enough to fend for themselves.
I'd like to know where these "dozens" of whale sharks could be kept until they are "large enough to fend for themselves" . I suppose it depends on at what size they can fend for themselves but i'm pretty sure that georgia doesn't have that sort of space.
I would guess they could be kept at the georgia aquarium untill they reach the size of an average shark. Another solution would be to trasport them to a site in the pacific or indian ocean and keep them in an pen like the monterey aquarium used for its white sharks. After all, when they are small, the transport will be a lot easier.
Yes, that was my thought as well. The aquarium could ship them back to Taipei and they could be kept in fisheries. I'd say they would need to be about 8 - 10 feet long to fend for themselves.
The aquarium does have an off-site holding facility that Im sure they might/would invest in maintaining young whale sharks there. There are also a few large aquariums, that Im sure would also be interested in maintaining a young Whale Shark until it was big enough for release. How big would a juvenile whale shark need to be before release (4 feet, 6 feet, 10 feet)? And how much space do we think a young whale shark would need? 500,000 gallons, 1 million gallons, 2 millions gallons?
Do whale sharks look after their young in the wild? Wouldn't naturally young whale sharks fend for themselves from the moment that they are born?
What I meant was that they would still be vulnerable to larger predatory sharks if they were 4 - 8 ft long. Fend for themselves = not get eaten.
I guess it would be better that way then headlines saying "Aquariums baby whale sharks make excellent snack for great white."
Don't cross your bridges before you come to them...So far, no whale shark has reproduced in captivity; worrying about future offsprings might be a "little" bit too rash and over-optimistic.
And as I said in an earlier post, at least according to the docent who was doing a talk about the whale sharks, the Aquarium staff isn't even sure if they WANT the whale sharks to reproduce.
I think, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium tries to reprodcue whale sharks, but I think, its a long way until then. But nevertheless, the have bred manta rays twice, teh first young was killed by its father, but the second should be still alive. I will visit the Georgia Aquarium in June, I have two days for the aquarium and I will ask the staff if they want to breed them or not.
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