JAPAN: Rare captive whale sharks and giant mantas wow visitors to one of the world's largest aquariums
- 00:00:14
- ITN Source
JAPAN: Rare captive whale sharks and giant mantas wow visitors to one of the world's largest aquariums
Amid the schools of yellow fin tuna and bonitos glide some of the largest but gentlest of the monsters of the sea at one of the world's largest aquarium. Around 80 species of fish roam the wide expanses of the Kuroshio Sea tank - the world's second largest at 7,500 cubic square metres. That's enough to fit three large whale sharks and four giant mantas. Whale sharks are the largest living fish species and despite their fearsome appearances are filter feeders, feeding typical on plankton and other microscopic ocean dwellers -- though in massive quantities of more than two tonnes per day. While the population of the shark is unknown in the wide open seas, only two other location in Osaka, Japan and Atlanta, USA, are known to have them in captivity. The biggest difficulty, of course is providing with a living space big enough to provide for the three whale sharks and four giant neighbouring mantas. "The whale shark is the world's largest fish so it was necessary to build one of the world's largest aquarium to show visitors this fish," said aquarium handler Teraya Hideji of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. But also apart from these leviathans, this place is also the only aquarium to successfully keep giant mantas in captivity. Unfortunately both mantas and whale sharks are fond of the same meal -- making feeding time especially difficult for the handlers. "We've got three whale sharks here and four giant mantas and the seven get along well. But the hardest thing is feeding them together and so they don't crash against each other -- in order to show visitors their natural habitats," Hideji said. The natural behavior of graceful giant mantas, while favorites of scuba divers around the world, are still rather a mystery. The aquarium hopes to be able to learn more from these gentle giants they now have in captivity in order to better protect them.
ITN Source | February 17, 2007
