Carcharodon carcharias

[Gaetan P.]

Has anyone checked out the journal section about the Whitey in captivity at the Monterey bay Aquarium....how long do you think it will be there? I think it is starting to hunt.

 

[Colin]

Hi

we had a thread going on in the supporters area at the end of last year and that was marking the white's 100th day... so she still seems to be going strong and has been eating healthily for a long time.

I think it will be there for as long as it fits the tank or until someone makes a film called 'Free Toothy' or something.

 

[Gaetan P.]

A really did't even know about this until a student of mine did a report on the great white and had the MBA story in it...pretty amazing..

What has happened to past porkers in captivity? die from confinement?

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

The shark should be there for another six months, according to some folks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Hopefully, I can trek down there to see it.

John

 

[Clem]

What has happened to past porkers in captivity? die from confinement?

Hello Gaetan,

Back in 1980, a 300lb white was kept for 72 hours at Steinhart aquarium in San Francisco. Swimming in circles in a concrete pen, the shark started to list and collide with the tank walls. It was suspected that the steel reinforcement bars in the concrete were putting the zap on the animal's electromagnetic receptors, so it was released back into the wild. There have been other attempts to keep whites...I think Marineland of Florida tried it many years ago, without success. Any sort of confinement seems to stress these animals. Last year, a 1500lb white swam into an estuarine pond near Woods Hole, Cape Cod. It stayed put for almost two weeks, but eventually began to show a slight list (indicative of some disruption of the animal's sensory array). Using nets and high-pressure hoses, a team managed to herd it back out to sea.

NPR reported yesterday that the Monterey white shark has recently attacked two other sharks in the enclosure, prompting discussion about the viability of keeping it. Aquarium staff are unsure about what's prompted this aggression, since the shark is kept well fed with fresh salmon. Could be territorial behavior or selective elimination of potential competitors.

My pal Joe saw the shark this past Sunday, and was thrilled by it.

NPR also reported yesterday on the Dosidicus "invasion" along coastal waters of the western U.S, tagging along on a day charter boat as the passengers fished for the squid using baited lines sunk to @ 1000ft. Squid and sharks in a single broadcast...NPR can be cool, sometimes.

Clem

*

 

[Gaetan P.]

Thanks Mate...good info...I guess you can't keep the apex predator in a tank. It would rather die, than be a caged monkey...interesting indeed.

loveyourmom,
G

 

[dragonfish]

I should see no harm in the fact it attacked other sharks. a shortfin mako does well in captivity but can hardly be kept with anything. lemon sharks also seem to have a strange urge to kill of a co-inhabitant with which he lived together for months.

anyway, it's the first I hear about this species doing so well in captivity, and I'm anxious to know more about it. let's start googling

 

[Snafflehound]

so, we recover squid beaks from whale stomachs...

what data exists on squid beaks from shark stomachs? do big sharks eat big squid?

I seem to recall a video of a big squid attacking a not-so-big shark - maybe I am asking the question the wrong way around.

 

[erich orser]

Well, we know a large octopus will stalk and kill a four-foot dogfish, and I've seen shots of an arrow squid off NZ nailing a small shark, so I guess it isn't beyond the realm of possibility. After all, although I've taken it out of my diet along with swordfish for ecological (and mercury-poisoning) issues, shark is very tasty!

I remember the tank at the Steinhardt where they kept the great white shark. Not small, but hardly big enough for an apex predator like that. The tank at MBA where they've got their specimen is the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit. This is the same giant tank that an MBA employee confided to me that they wanted to see a dosidicus gigas released inside - just to see what happens. You think a great white shark is a hazard to the fauna in there...

 

[Squidman]

Hoo, boy! Capitve dosidicus? I predict it would die in several weeks. Although it would be cool.

 

[Phil]

I seem to recall a video of a big squid attacking a not-so-big shark - maybe I am asking the question the wrong way around.

Maybe this is what you were thinking of, Snafflehound?

This is a computer enhanced image from a series taken in Kaikoura Canyon, NZ, in the late nineties (not sure what date exactly). The image was taken from a suspended camera on a rope at a depth of 2400 ft. Using liquid bait that gave off essence of barracuda, the camera was the first to apparantly record a squid/shark encounter.

It depicts an arrow squid attacking a spiny dogfish. The squid initially wrapped its arms around the shark as they ventured close to each other both attracted by the bait. The squid then wrapped its arms around the sharks gill slits, a move that could have proved fatal for the shark. The next second the shark was released and it jetted off.

Image from National Geographic Magazine June 1998.

 

[Squidman]

VERY interesting, Phil! Maybe the squid retreated because it knew the struggle would injure it.

 

[Snafflehound]

That's exactly what I was thinking of Phil.

What happens if the squid does suffocate the dogfish by holding its gills closed... does it then eat it in beak-sized bites?