OK - I wanted to be the first to post about this (I think I am). As some of you may know, the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in November 2005 in Atlanta as the largest aquarium in the world, has experienced another tragic loss. Norton, the second of the aquarium's male whale sharks, was humanely euthanized when he become too ill to swim (laying on the bottom) yesterday, 6/13.
See the CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science....ap/index.html
Now I happen to volunteer at the GA Aquarium, and I also know a member of the dive department. I'd witnessed the declining health of Norton. As the article mentions, Ralph (the first male to pass away) and Norton had both been exposed to a chemical treatment used to kill parasites. This affected them in the long-term, in a negative and unpredicted way. Trixie and Alice were not exposed to this treatment, and have not been showing signs of illness.
I know that we marine aquarium keepers will always sympathize with the responsible aquarist, but I just wanted to reinforce that from an observer's point of view. Everything was done to help these whale sharks after this terrible side effect developed while their health continued to decline. Very little is known about whale sharks, let alone their captive care! Hopefully this tragedy will NOT happen again.
Just wanted to get that out. I'll try to find out as much as I can.