Georgia aquarium’s largest female whale shark dies

ATLANTA — One of the Georgia Aquarium’s beloved whale sharks has died, aquarium officials announced Friday.

Officials said she was having difficulty navigating her habitat earlier in the day and her health declined rapidly.

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“Even after exhaustive veterinary and animal care efforts, she ultimately passed away,” officials said. “Trixie was one of our first whale sharks when she arrived in 2006 and she contributed enormously to our understanding of whale sharks and their care. Loss is inevitable, but that does not make it any less painful.”

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Trixie was the aquarium’s largest female whale shark and had been at the aquarium since 2006. Trixie and another female whale shark arrived at the aquarium in 2006 after they were flown more than 8,000 miles from Taipei, Taiwan, on a specially configured freighter. The aquarium currently has three other whale sharks.

Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world and the largest fish known to have ever lived on the planet.

They can live to be up to 130 years old. It’s unclear how old Trixie was at the time of her death.

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