ATLANTA -- Organizers of the new Georgia Aquarium were expected to announce Friday that they have obtained two rare whale sharks, according to reports.

Bernie Marcus, the primary benefactor of the new facility, which is being built in downtown Atlanta near Centennial Olympic Park, was scheduled to hold a 3 p.m. news conference to make the announcement. Marcus has donated $200 million to build the aquarium, which is scheduled to open Nov. 23.

More Resources INTERACTIVE: Sharks! Huge Bill Awaits Animal Crusader After Rescue Georgia Aquarium

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that 12-foot-long fish were moved in a 60-hour operation that started from Hualien in eastern Taiwan earlier this week. The fish arrived at the downtown Atlanta aquarium this morning, the newspaper reported.

Taiwan News reported that the sharks were caught by local fisherman before being transported by airplane to Atlanta.

"We took the sharks out of the sea around 3 a.m. daybreak when they were asleep so that they wouldn't feel scared because of the long trip, amounting to 60 hours to get to Georgia Aquarium," Huang Tung-ping, who is in charge of the Tung-chang fish farm where the sharks had been kept, told the Taiwan newspaper.

The new aquarium will be the only place other than Asia where the public can view whale sharks in captivity, according to the AJC. The aquarium in Okinawa has two whale sharks.

Quoting sources, the AJC reported that the facility spent about $8,000 to acquire each fish.

Whale sharks are among the biggest species of sharks and are also among the largest fish.

According to experts, the whale shark is a gentle giant up to 50 feet in length. They are usually a dark color with whitish spots covering the entire body, and are more commonly found in the Indian Ocean.

wsbtv.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles contributed to this report.