From Sushi to Science: Floating Fish's Death Could Provide Insight Into Little-Known Species

Jan. 23, 2007 — -- Officials are looking for answers in the sudden death of one of four prized whale sharks housed at the popular Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Ralph the whale shark died unexpectedly on Jan. 11. Officials say the 22-foot-long Ralph stopped swimming that afternoon and died later that night.

Ralph and Norton, the aquarium's other male whale shark, arrived at the aquarium in June 2005 from Taiwan, where they had been destined to become seafood. The pair were joined a year later by two females, Alice and Trixie.

The aquarium is the only place outside Asia that holds whale sharks. Ralph and his companions came from Hualien, Taiwan, where an annual quota of whale sharks is harvested for food.

Through an agreement with the Taiwanese government, the giant fish were pulled from that quota and brought to Atlanta.

"We work very closely with the local fishing population in securing these animals," said Ray Davis, the aquarium's senior vice president of zoological operations.

Davis, one of the scientists who accompanied Ralph from Taiwan, says the fishermen are as important as the fish when it comes to catching whale sharks.

"They are absolutely critical to what we do," he said.

Now that a necropsy on Ralph is complete, his remains -- all 1 ton of him -- will be sent to a crematorium and then to an undisclosed pet cemetery, where they will be buried in the ground.

It seems like an unlikely end for a seafaring giant that once seemed destined to become soup or sushi.

Ralph's Homeric journey from the waters off Taiwan's coast to Atlanta was a remarkable one. This was no pet-shop guppy in a clear, plastic bag.

The mighty fish was caught unceremoniously and randomly in a massive, fixed net. Ralph was then transferred with more help from the locals to an underwater holding pen.

From there, the scientists took over.

Young Ralph, then only a puny 15 feet long at the time, was moved to a specially designed sea pen, then to a mobile life-support container and trucked to the airport.

The whale shark was then loaded and flown to Alaska on a specially equipped UPS-donated 747 cargo plane, off-loaded, put on to another plane, and flown south to Georgia. From there it was yet another truck ride to the aquarium.