Sudden Death of Hammerhead Sharks at Ocean Park

[gavin]

Yeah, so it's not strictly "amusement park" news, but I thought it was relevant since Ocean Park, like the Sea World parks, has its animal attractions as an integral part of the overall experience. Plus, since it's the off season, none of us has a life now apparently, so a bit of park news, however trivial, might stave off some suicidal thoughts.

I wouldn't bother posting with just one fish dying, but almost half of the park's hammerhead shark population - six out of fourteen - suddenly died over a seven hour period on Sunday morning. The sharks arrived from Japan in 2010, and have since doubled in size, so it's not as if it's the sudden stress of a move that has done it.

Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...-mystified-sudden-death-six-hammerhead-sharks

 

[Ian]

My thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

Seems a bit strange though. It takes three years for the stress of the move to kill them....? I'm no marine biologist or whatever but that doesn't make sense. If the sharks were two years old when they moved, they would have been young and probably better equipped to handle any moves or changes.

I <3 sharks.

 

[furie]

Shark fin soup on today's menu then?

 

[SilverArrow]

Considerably small changes in aquarium water quality can have disastrous affects on aquarium fish that can easily cause large mortality events like this. It may be that a mistake or incident with the life support system has caused this and they'd rather not announce it. However, as this seems to have affected just one species in a large, multi-species tank it does point towards some kind of disease or genetic problem. (imo)
Could be any number of reasons though. I'm not sure how hard hammerheads are to keep.
Sad to hear though! #sorryimazoologist