Georgia Aquarium is one of the few facilities in the world to house whale sharks. Learn more about what it takes to care for the ocean’s largest fish.
The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and the largest known to have lived on this planet. They can be found offshore in the tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans – and at Georgia Aquarium.
Caring for the largest fish in the sea is quite a task and requires the involvement of several different teams:
Animal care, dive, life support systems, environmental health lab, commissary research, and veterinary staff all are involved in the daily care of the whale sharks at Georgia Aquarium.
The dive team
Oversees the daily maintenance of the 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager Exhibit the Aquarium’s whale shark’s call home. The dive team is in charge of cleaning this exhibit in its entirety; from the rocks on the exhibit floor to the nearly 20-foot-tall viewing window. All this cleaning ensures our animals have a healthy habitat to call home. This team also oversees our Swim with Gentle Giants and Dive with Gentle Giants programs. Along with our Veterans Immersion Program, helping guests and veterans get up close and personal with these incredible animals. With all these responsibilities, our dive team spends the most time in the water with our whale sharks.
The Environmental Health Lab team
Monitors the water quality in all the Aquarium’s exhibits, including Ocean Voyager. Monitoring all levels (from salinity levels to air quality and lighting) to ensure the environment is properly set up and maintained to accommodate each species.
The commissary team
Is vital because they prepare and organize all food for the Aquarium’s thousands of animals. Although their mouths can be nearly four feet in length, whale sharks are filter feeders. Their esophagi are only about the size of a quarter. They are fed an assortment of shrimp, krill, and small fish several times each day, totaling nearly 40 lbs of food a day per whale shark.
The Life Support Systems (LSS) team
Is responsible for the operation, care, and upkeep of Georgia Aquarium’s aquatic exhibits. Alongside the Environmental Health Lab team, our LSS team ensures all exhibits receive the proper salinity levels. Since Georgia Aquarium is land-locked without direct access to the ocean, our LSS teams create saltwater that would mimic that of the ocean. Georgia Aquarium recycles 99% of the water throughout all exhibits, over 11 million gallons in total.
To learn more about whale sharks and Georgia Aquarium’s research and conservation efforts, please visit our website.
Since opening in 2005, the Aquarium’s research team has studied whale sharks across the globe in places like Mexico, Taiwan, and the Galapagos Islands. During this field work, our teams have been able to successfully tag whale sharks to track migratory patterns and take blood draws to analyze their current health status. This endangered species faces numerous threats. Our teams are working both at home and in the field to help conserve these gentle giants for generations to come.
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Georgia Aquarium is a leading 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Ga. that is Humane Certified by American Humane and accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Georgia Aquarium is committed to working on behalf of all marine life through education, preservation, exceptional animal care, and research across the globe. Georgia Aquarium continues its mission each day to inspire, educate, and entertain its millions of guests about the aquatic biodiversity throughout the world through its engaging exhibits and tens of thousands of animals across its eight major galleries.
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