Whale Shark in tank.

[Ninong]

First day of schools: A whale shark -- the largest species of fish in the world -- dwarfs the inaugural visitors to the Motobu, Okinawa, sea tank -- the largest aquarium in the world.

[Ninong]

OMG, I just located that Japanese aquarium's website and the size of that tank is unbelievable:

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.

That would make the viewing window approx. 22' x 69' x 2' thick!!!





**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".

http://www.ocean-park.go.jp/park_e/frame1.html

P.S. -- I searched all over that site and I couldn't find the volume of that tank that they claim is the largest aquarium in the world. It would have to be pretty big to be the largest in the world. The largest tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is 90' long by 35' deep (wide) by ? tall, holds 1,000,000 gallons and has a single acrylic pane that is 54' long by 15' tall by 13" thick, weighing 78,000 lbs. Their Kelp Tank is 28' tall but it holds only 360,000 gallons and its viewing window is in sections. They also have another tank that is 335,000 gallons.

I'm just not sure that the tank in Okinawa holds more than 1,000,000 gallons, but maybe it does.

[Ninong]

One of the things that they ask that you refrain from doing while visiting their aquarium/park:

Building bonfires.


:eek3:


Hmmm...

They even have a very large orchid greenhouse:

[Reinhold]

A Whale Shark? OK.....but they'd better not put any Tangs in that tank!

[Ninong]

I'm not so sure about the Whale Shark either. I wonder if they can survive long term in such quarters. No one has been able to keep a Great White Shark in a public aquarium even though they keep trying over and over again. Maybe they should stick with Black Tip Reef Sharks and Nurse Sharks. But it is an impressive sight.

[Reefcrazy]

A whale Shark is a plankton feeder much like a Basking (sp?) Whale. How would they ever get enough plankton to support it? I'm not sure how much it needs to survive let alone thrive, but it must need several pounds each day. It had to cost them a bundle to capture one of those and bring it there, surely they must have had some idea of how to care for it before it arrived. I hope anyway :P

[icemark]

can you image having this as a wall in your living room???



The Mysterious aqua room.

[Biomanjcs72]

I figure either they pump in nSW, culture some plankton for the whale shark, or it's a hoax. (not perpetrated by Ninong, of course), but someone could have photoshopped it for effect on the website. As an example, I've seen a couple of screensavers (one on a co-workers computer right now) that has wonderful tangs, angels, a butterfly or two. and A lovely school of neon tetra's swimming around the anemones/sponges, and corals of the screensaver reef.

Could just be that some Japanese webmaster decided to spice the pic up a bit.

Whale sharks are pelagic (open ocean) creatures. I very seriously doubt one would do well in captivity.

Just my .02

[Ninong]

It's not a hoax. http://www.ocean-park.go.jp/park_e/frame1.html

That park has been there since 1976 but the new aquarium just opened Nov. 1, 2002. The world press was there for the opening, so I don't think a webmaster could have pulled it off. ;)

Yes, I'm sure they are using natural seawater since they are right next to the ocean but I have no idea how they feed their whale sharks or whether they will survive long term. I guess time will tell.

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

I WANNA GO!!!!
SHOG

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

I am having probs saving all the pics to my desktop. Here is a link to a index that shows the 4 levels of the aquarium. You can click on each level and then go through the sections of the level you have selected. Hope this works... http://www.kaiyouhaku.com/picture/index.html
SHOG

[Biomanjcs72]

Hmm. interesting.

Maybe they hired david copperfield, and he created the illusion of a whale shark, just like he made the statue of liberty disappear..

I have a hard time believing he'll live for too terribly long (compared to wild creatures) Although I'd like to see how/where they got him, and how they got him to such a large size. (i.e. if nay special feeding techniques, food, etc. were used in rearing him to this size.

Or, did they catch him this size and go fishing with a really big line and hook? hehe

Ninong, you find the coolest pictures/articles, etc.