No matter how many aquariums you visit around the world and how many sea creatures you see, there is one species you will never encounter there: Great White Shark. Why is that?
The reason is that Great White Sharks typically have a very short lifespan when kept in captivity and tend to commit suicide. There have been many unfortunate incidents at famous aquariums in the United States. Great White Sharks can sometimes live only one day in a tank, or at best, a few days.
Aquariums cannot serve as a home for Great White Sharks because they cannot meet their natural needs.
Great White Sharks find it very difficult to adapt to life in aquariums due to various reasons such as dietary needs, limited space, and external environmental impacts, according to IFL Science.
A major issue is their diet. Great White Sharks are apex predators, often referred to as the “ocean’s assassins.” In the wild, they are willing to fast until they find live prey. However, in aquarium settings, many captive Great White Sharks often refuse to eat prepared meat.
Great White Sharks are not suitable for aquarium captivity. (Image: Comicvine).
Great White Sharks are also one of the aquatic animals that must constantly swim forward to allow water to flow over their gills to extract oxygen. These creatures can grow up to 6 meters long, meaning the width of aquarium tanks is often insufficient to accommodate their movement needs.
Great White Sharks are accustomed to swimming long distances. Researchers have documented a female shark named Nicole that traveled over 20,000 km from Africa to Australia and back in just nine months.
Simulating the vast ocean space where Great White Sharks can swim freely is an impossible goal. Visitors would lose interest if they had to observe the animal from too far away.
Another hypothesis suggests that the artificial environment in aquarium glass tanks can overwhelm or disrupt the extremely sensitive electroreceptive perception of Great White Sharks. This sense allows them to detect small movements and changes in the water environment. However, in captivity, sharks can easily become confused by the overwhelming stimuli from the glass walls and surrounding electrical equipment.
Once we understand all of this, even if some aquarium could successfully keep a Great White Shark, we might not feel excited to see them anymore.
The Great White Shark died three days after being placed in a Japanese aquarium. (Video: AFP).
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan was one of the last places to attempt to keep a Great White Shark last year but was unsuccessful. The shark died just three days after being placed in the tank.
Previously, dozens of other places had attempted to display Great White Sharks in tanks. Marineland of the Pacific, a famous aquarium in California, USA, was the first to keep a Great White Shark in captivity in the mid-1950s. The shark survived less than a day. SeaWorld also attempted to keep Great White Sharks several times in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, but all efforts failed. The sharks died or had to be released back into the wild after just two weeks in the park.
In 2004, the Monterey Bay Aquarium became the only place in the world to keep a Great White Shark for more than 16 days.
