Sea Notes

No White Christmas

 

Adieu, adios, farewell, she said. Oh, wait - that was just me; with one last flick of the tail she was gone. Yes, this morning, I let the dog out, and then I let the shark out, figuratively speaking. Today, the young great white shark swims back in the wild again, to find mackerel not hand-delivered on a pole.

In roughly six months we expect her to call home and report where she's been. She's been outfitted with new jewelry (tags) today, that will record her position, depths to which she dives and the temperature of the water she's in - all very valuable data for understanding juvenile great whites. A pop-off tag will send data via satellite, and if we can recover the tag, as we have previously, we can retrieve yet more.

She gained over 20 pounds in two months - which is pretty impressive - and added two inches, making her 5-foot 5-inches. Taller than me, she noted.

 

So, just how do you catch a great white shark and return it to the wild. Carefully! And with great skill. Our husbandry team has done this four times before of course, but there's always room for more adrenalin. Two staff members wait with dip nets for her to swim by. With lightening reflexes, one covers the tail end and the other the bitey end. Once she's enclosed, she can be transferred into one net and lifted. Easy, right? I got tired just watching. She's then transferred into a holding tank, where she can be enclosed in a stretcher, which will be her sling and comfort until she slides back into the Pacific blue.

Once stretchered, she is weighed, then transferred into a transport container which contains super-rich oxygenated water. Amazingly at this point the shark becomes calm and still (after she appropriately gave the husbandry team one last cold shower with a quick tail thrust!) The combination of confinement and oxygenated water has this effect on other sharks too, and tuna too.

Detailed measurements are taken, and photographs, then it's down the elevator and onto Cannery Row where our hoist can lift her transport tank onto a truck. She gets the full tourist experience, down historic Cannery Row and to the wharf. There a hoist transfers her to a waiting boat.

Next it's time for some blood work, and final checks, and it's time to go. As the release site is reached, her satellite and ID tags are fitted, the stretcher is taken to the front of the boat, which has a special bow that lowers (often used to bring gigantic leatherback turtles aboard for tagging). The stretcher is tilted and lowered to the water, and in she goes.

Wow. Pretty amazing. This is always a good day for us. A successful release of an animal back to the wild that will be an important contributor to this population. New research just released reveals there are far less of these sharks than previously thought. Every one counts. Be lucky young girl. Call us in the spring and let us know how you're doing!

Mahi Mayhem

Our great white shark has some new companions in her current temporary home; seven new mahi mahi (dolphin fish) were added last week.

These lively young fish are showing a keen interest in her private dining opportunities.  They are expected to participate in the public feedings (every Tue, Thu, Sat and Sunday at 11 am - check out the webcam for a live view!) So Monday, Wednesday, Friday they are perhaps feeling snubbed that her whiteness gets to chomp on a daily snack, and so they cruise on over to see what's on offer.

These newcomers are really keeping our husbandry staff on their toes as they try to ensure the mackerel goes to the right mouth, or is that the white mouth?

Miss White is spending much more time in the top third of the exhibit these days. So you're much more likely to see her cruise by our webcam. This is the mahi's domain also, so there's a lot to see in the upper viewing window right now.

The mahi are spectacularly colored, with flashes of bright yellows and blues, especially as they get excited and feed. They spent some time in the outdoor holding area, before moving onto exhibit, and I was completely mesmerized by their display as the sunlight pierced the water.

Meanwhile, the young great white continues to feed and thrive and grow. She looks visibly bigger too since she arrived two months ago. All is good!

White Shark: Daily Digest

The love affair continues. We for her, and her for mackerel, forsaking all others. In fact, we're told, she simply spits out anything else. She's like the opposite of the kid who won't eat broccoli. With many of our animals, we offer a fish like mackerel first, as it's a really good place to hide a vitamin or anything else you might need to supplement the food with. Then you offer the good stuff. Miss White wants nothing but the mackerel. Oh, and did I mention, around 3% of her body weight of it?

Around a kilo (2.2 lbs) per day is pretty consistent with her predecessors. We are estimating her weight, in case you are wondering. Unlike our exhibit sea otters, she is not trained to put herself on the scales. She will not be weighed until the day she heads out again into the big blue. Based on the three white sharks we had for several months, we have a pretty good idea of how much weight a juvenile white shark adds for each kilo of food it consumes. This was a total shock to us the first time around, when the young girl added 100 pounds in six months, and had grown to over six feet in length!

Witnessing first hand the growth rate of a juvenile is part of the important science behind having an animal like this on exhibit. Previous estimates of sharks this size in the wild had placed them at 2-3 years of age, but likely this girl was a little over a year at most. This adds to our understanding of juvenile white sharks. Important pieces in a puzzle, that eventually may help scientists know how best to protect nursery areas.

Meanwhile, this young girl continues to feed and grow and do well. She is now consistently feeding toward the center of the exhibit and away from the back wall. Exactly what we were hoping for. In the words of Jon Hoech, Director of Husbandry Operations, "All is good."

Sea Stories

I love a good story. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of a storyteller who, in sharing something personal, can connect to issues more universal and at times deeply moving.

Because I work at the Aquarium, I enjoy hearing other people's stories about their experiences here: how they were inspired, delighted, or moved in unexpected ways.

So today is a great day, because it started with a raft of great stories.

The first is a blog by Choose2BHappy, an artist and writer from Carmel Valley, California who had a memorable evening encounter with our little great white shark. It's enchanting and inspirational -- well worth your time.

The second (or, rather, the next 25) come courtesy of Mark Anderson and Kera Abraham at the Monterey County Weekly newspaper. For our 25th anniversary, which comes up on October 20, they profiled the Aquarium's evolution and developmentthrough the stories of 25 animals from our exhibits.

I may be biased because of the subject matter, but for me this represents the best of what the "alternative" press has to offer. The stories are alternately quirky, engaging, poignant and funny. And the online version features three Nic Coury slideshows that take you behind the scenes, highlight our staff and volunteers and celebrate the architectural innovations that define the Aquarium.

The Weekly also delivered a surprise to our fundraising staff: A contribution of nearly $5,500 from the tribute ads sold in this week's edition, earmarked for our 25th anniversary Children's Education Fund. The money will help support continued free visits for schoolchildren. (We've hosted more than 1.5 million free of charge since we opened in 1984.)

All in all, it's a great way to start the day.

Great White Workout!

 
The Great White Friday update reported that her whiteness is eating roughly two percent of her body weight each day in mackerel. What the update doesn't say, is how much effort is required by our husbandry team to feed her. As I witnessed this weekend, it's quite the workout!

If you've watched one of our feeding videos, you'll see that the fish is attached to a piece of cotton on a wooden pole, and dangled in the water. The shark smells the food, comes over and chows down. Pretty simple right? But not with this animal. "She's not like any of the others we've had," says Manny Ezcurra, associate curator of elasmobranches (all things shark-like). I watched as Manny ran from one end of the exhibit to the other, eyeing her as she came to the shallows. Then once she was in sight, Manny would run ahead of her, pulling the mackerel just in front of her through the water. She may feign interest, and then dive, only to appear at the other end of the exhibit, and have Manny skipping toward her, only for her to dive again. "It's like trolling for salmon or tuna," says Manny; pulling a lure through the water to attract a fish. Manny is our human troller!

After 15 minutes, or more, she had eaten only three mackerel. But boy, when she takes them, she gives quite the show. One time she launched vertically, and at least the top third of her body came out of the water. The next time, was more of a sideways breach. "She takes her food enthusiastically," smiles Manny. Apparently not concerned that he's expending almost as much energy as his charge!

We know you're wondering why we don't have photos and video for us to share with you as she feeds. But at this time, she's still not ready for her close up! Our husbandry staff would like her to feed without additional distraction, and would like her to feel comfortable feeding from the center of the exhibit, so that we can use our catwalk. Right now, she's only comfortable at the back - and only when the prey is moving! Maybe this won't change during her stay with us. It's hard to know. After all, this is only the 5th great white to ever feed in a captive setting - the book is still being written.

Red Herrings and White Elephants

The great white shark is now doing so well we only get a weekly update from our husbandry team, unless anything out of the ordinary takes place.

This was not such a week. The Friday update says, the status is quo, mackerel is still the food de jour and all is fine. Makes for a happy husbandry division, but a less exciting blog!

I'd love to tell you tales of extraordinary doings, but the truth is that having a juvenile great white, that feeds every day at our behest, swims calmly and comfortably on exhibit and plays nicely with others, is beyond extraordinary. This being our fifth time, it can be too easy to take it all for granted. And yet, we are doing what no other institution has done, and that's to keep a white shark healthy and fed and in a condition to be returned back to the wild as a viable and vital member of her community.

We make it look easy, no doubt, but since our first successful attempt in 2004, no other facility in the world has attempted to replicate. That surely speaks to the magnitude of what we're doing here.

So if you do get the chance to stop by and say "hi" to her in person, remember that what you are witnessing is no red herring or white elephant. She's the real deal!

Vitamin Enriched

One sure way to keep our young great white sharks healthy on exhibit is to offer them vitamins along with the fish we feed them at mealtime.

Now our resident white shark has begun taking her vitamins.

Last Wednesday, our aquarists began adding vitamin supplements to the mackerel and salmon they feed her. The supplements are from a commercial supplier, and they're specially formulated for sharks and rays. It's something we (and other aquariums) commonly use to make sure our exhibit animals get all the water- and fat-soluble vitamins they need for optimal health.

There's a certain irony in giving vitamins to sharks, since shark populations are threatened in the wild because so many have been killed to produce vitamins and supplements for people. Large animals like basking sharks and Greenland sharks were decimated when they were hunted to turn their fatty livers into Vitamin A supplements.

Recently, shark cartilage and other shark byproducts have been touted as potential cancer cures, fueling another spike in the marketing of shark products.

You can take action for sharks in the wild by contacting your U.S. Senators to urge their support for legislation that will close the last loophole in the marketplace that supports shark finning. On a personal level, you can also be sure not to use shark products -- and by spreading the word to friends and family.

The Sound of Silence

Just when you think you're getting to know someone... "No thanks," said the great white shark. "I'm really not hungry today." Salmon, mackerel, pass.

Now remember, this is not your dog or cat, or your Aunt Sue. This is a wild animal that may not find food on a daily basis, or need to eat regularly. So we're not concerned.

We've had other white sharks take a day or two off from the food fest, and then come back for the snack attack.

Her behavior is otherwise completely normal. She just wasn't hungry!

We're really more concerned about what she'll eat out in the wild when she returns in the next weeks/months ahead. With the world's fisheries pretty much at capacity, or overfished to supply we land mammals, there has to be concern about what is left to feed those that can't shop at alternate stores, or eat chicken! But we know you'll be using your Seafood Watch pocket guide to make "Best Choices."

Also of concern is the high levels of PCBs, DDT and other toxins that are accumulating in top predators. Dolphins and killer whales are showing alarming high rates of such contaminants, including the local population of bottlenose dolphin here in Monterey Bay. Seals and sea lions, the favored prey of adult great white sharks, also are testing positive. No one knows what the long term effects might be for these animals at the top of the food chain. But like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, they are telling us that things are amiss, and we need to fix it.

Meanwhile, from the young white shark in our care, just white noise.

Pass the Lemon

Variety is the spice of life, so heard the great white shark, and obliged our husbandry staff in finally chowing down on over a pound of wild Alaska salmon. There's no Zagat Guide for white sharks, so only time will tell if this is to be her new favorite dining opportunity, or whether the mackerel will still be tops. She did also eat mackerel as a side dish.

Our Curator of Husbandry Operations, Paul Clarkson notes that this shark is still feeding a little differently to her predecessors. Given her preference for swimming lower in the water column (often the best visitor view is still in our Vanishing Wildlife gallery), when the food is offered she has to come from a depth of 35 feet and does so in quite the hurry. "That bottom to surface approach results in her charging and hitting the food items quickly and provides for some exciting behaviors," says Paul. I think that's code for some quick beating hearts of those holding the feeding pole!

We're still working to have her feed at the surface. That way we can stop the tuna and other swift predators from stealing her meal. However, there's instinct at play here. Great white sharks do often charge their prey; coming from below at impressive speeds to hit an elephant seal or other blubbery mammal. This first bite will usually incapacitate, if not kill, and then the shark will circle back around later for supper. There's no hurry. Who would try to steal the food of a great white shark?

Researchers who worked for years with the adult population at the Farallon Islands off San Francisco noted a pecking order, that few dared to challenge. The large females - affectionately known as the Sisters, would be the most respected. After that came the large adult males, "the Rat Pack." One young white shark who did not subscribe to the notion of waiting in line did not survive to pass his genes along! Sometimes, it's a shark eat shark world out there!

Film Friday: Ten Pounds

The juvenile great white is working on a sequel to the movie Seven Pounds - which incidentally did include a mention of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and our jellyfish collection.

From a quick calculation this morning, the girl has eaten over ten pounds of mackerel since she started snacking on September 1. An average of a pound a day - but actually her appetite is highly variable. Some days she just wants a nibble and another she eats the shop!

She showed interest in the salmon steak yesterday and "mouthed" it, but decided more mackerel was her thing.

Great whites like to mouth things. It's their way of investigating their world. What would you do without hands? It's also the reason that a number of people have survived a great white kiss. If you take a little bite of a candy and find out that it's cherry and you don't like cherry, you don't eat it, right? Same goes for sharks. We don't taste good. Distinct lack of blubber. It's the shark equivalent of scratch and sniff.

Recently a group of people who'd been to a shark tasting went to Congress to appeal on behalf of sharks. They didn't see themselves as "victims of shark attacks," but as something dressed akin to seal skin in a predators' environment. They went in support of the Shark Conservation Act of 2009. This legislation aims to do what its predecessor (the Shark Finning Act of 2000) failed to do. Finally bring an end to illegal shark finning and trade in U.S. waters. Though it will still be legal to fish for sharks, and to bring the fins back to shore, providing they are still attached to the body. The practice of shark finning results in live sharks being discarded finless, to die a slow and lingering death.

You can support the Shark Conservation Act today, and let your Senator know why it's important to you. The great white says thanks, and pass the mackerel please.