Shark Eats First Meals At Aquarium

September 9, 2006

Release from: Laith Agha
Monterey Herald

Maybe it just needed a little ambience.

Eight days after arriving at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a great white shark took its first bites of food -- just as candles were being lit on dinner tables for an event held Thursday night in the Outer Bay exhibit area.

Angela Hains, an aquarium spokeswoman, said if the shark did not eat within seven to 10 days of its arrival, aquarium officials would have had to consider returning it to the wild.

Great white sharks have a reputation as fierce hunters. While still in a pen near Malibu on Aug. 30, the male shark ate about five pounds before being transferred later that day to Monterey.

But the aquarium's newest addition didn't have much of an appetite since arriving last week -- until it chowed down about a pound and a half of baited California skate. The shark ate again Friday, this time more than two pounds of salmon.

"This is a very positive sign," said Hains. "The fact that he is eating two days in a row and willing to eat food that is on a hook and not just swimming around is very nice to see. It's a sign that he's more comfortable with his new surroundings."

The juvenile shark measured 5 feet, 8-inches and weighed 104 pounds the day it arrived. Its exact age is not known, but aquarium officials believe it is just under a year old. Great whites can grow to more than 20 feet and weigh three tons.

This is the first great white the aquarium has harbored since March 30, 2005, when a female it had kept 198 days was released.

Aquarium officials do not know how long they will keep the newcomer, but they are keeping tabs on its health and ability to coexist with other animals in the tank.