How many whale sharks have died at Georgia Aquarium?

Two of the whale sharks, Ralph and Norton, passed away in 2007, two years after the aquarium's opening. Many have speculated that they died because of the lack of knowledge surrounding keeping these enormous animals in captivity. The other two whale sharks of the initial four also died years later.



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Associated Press mentioned after Ralph and Norton died that “Some aquarium experts believe a chemical (trichlorfon) used to treat the whale sharks' tank for parasites caused the two big sharks to stop eating, and led to a cascading series of problems that ultimately caused their deaths.”

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But when another of the rare fish at the Georgia Aquarium died Wednesday, there was talk of carelessness: It was, in short, a public relations crisis. Norton, a 23-foot juvenile whale shark and one of the stars of Atlanta's super-sized aquarium, was euthanized after he had slowly spiraled to the bottom of his tank.

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Maris, a captive-born beluga brought to Georgia Aquarium on Nov. 6, 2005, died last Thursday afternoon at the age of 21.

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In total, the aquarium is intended to hold four whale sharks: Ralph, Norton, Alice, and Trixie. Two of the whale sharks, Ralph and Norton, passed away in 2007, two years after the aquarium's opening.

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In Defense of Animals also criticized the Georgia Aquarium for having swim-with-dolphin programs, holding belugas inside an enclosed building and shipping belugas across the country with no apparent regard for their social, psychological and physical well-being.

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Alice's death came less than a year after the aquarium's largest whale shark Trixie passed away from health complications. The largest fish in the sea, whale sharks are considered endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

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Georgia Aquarium Now Officially Certified By Our New Humane Conservation Program. We're happy to announce Georgia Aquarium, the Western Hemisphere's largest aquarium, passed a rigorous third-party inspection and achieved certification under our new global project, Humane Conservation.

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Large whale sharks don't often make it long in captivity. Evolved for the open ocean, tank run-ins, and other pressure often result in unfortunate fatalities.

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The largest captive female whale shark has died in a US aquarium. Georgia Aquarium confirmed the passing in a statement on its Facebook page. The massive shark named Trixie died on Friday after having difficulty navigating the habitat earlier in the day, the aquarium said. Her health quickly declined from there.

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Georgia Aquarium is home to whale sharks and is the only aquarium in the United States where you can find these sharks.

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Georgia Aquarium, Georgia There are 11 million gallons of water in total at this aquarium. The Ocean Voyager tank makes up over half of this total with 6.3 million gallons of water — making it the largest tank in the entire world. This is where you can find their four resident whale sharks.

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