Whale shark at world's largest aquarium dies

Death of teen male is a mystery; beluga whale was put to sleep earlier
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ATLANTA - One of the Georgia Aquarium's prized whale sharks died Thursday night — the second death of a popular exhibit animal at the world's largest aquarium in 10 days. Ralph, one of four whale sharks at the year-old aquarium, stopped swimming Thursday afternoon and died about 9:30 p.m., aquarium spokeswoman Donna Fleishman said.

The cause of death was not immediately determined. Aquarium executive director Jeff Swanagan said a necropsy would begin on Friday.

"Recently, he has not been eating well and has had some unusual swimming patterns," Fleishman said. The aquarium staff moved the 22-foot shark to another part of the tank after he stopped swimming and immediately began trying to revive him, but he died eight hours later, Swanagan said.

Ralph and Norton, the aquarium's other male whale shark, arrived in June 2005 from Taipei, Taiwan, where they had been destined to become seafood. They were joined a year later by two females, Alice and Trixie, in their 6-million-gallon tank. They are the only whale sharks on display outside of Asia.