The aquarium with the “World’s Largest Acrylic Panel” sprung a leak today. The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo began leaking water today. According to the Khaleej Times, the leak was quickly brought under control and “did not cause any environmental effect or harm to the species.” Apparently, no injuries to mall patrons were reported either, thankfully. The aquarium, which holds over 2 million gallons of water, is home to over 33,000 specimens of marine life, including over 400 sharks and rays.

And yes, multiple “news” sources have tried to play up the danger of this event due to the aquarium being “shark-filled.” In reality, a leakage at an aquarium filled with over 2 million gallons of water and over 400 sharks does have catastrophic potential, but the danger is due to the 2 million gallons of water, not the sharks in it.

WPTV.com is reporting that Martin Memorial Health Systems has released a report on the incident involving employees taking photographs of a shark attack victim. According to the report, the hospital investigation involved interviews with over 50 people. As a result of the findings, “some employees received warnings, suspensions, demotions and loss of position,” for taking photos of the victim and emailing them. However, according to a TCPalm.com article reports that “no one was fired,” according to a written statement from Martin Memorial chief marketing communications officer, Miguel Coty.

The details seem fairly limited from Martin Memorial public response to this incident, due to a policy that prohibits discussing personnel issues. Coty was quoted as saying, “We have determined that these inappropriate actions were taken by good people who exercised poor judgment.”

The TCPalm.com article also had the following tribute video for the victim.

Numerous media outlets are reporting that a female Sea World Orlando employee was fatally attacked by an orca today. Orlando’s Local 6 identifies the orca involved as Tillikum, a 12,300 lbs. male. Park manager, Dan Brown, identified the victim as being one of the park’s “most experienced trainers.” According to the Local 6 report, the victim slipped and fell into the orca’s tank and was subsequently attacked by the orca.

Unfortunately, it seems that orcas have become just as susceptible to media sensationalism as sharks. This ABC clip is a prime example…

The clip plays out more like a guy announcing a pro-wrestling match than it does a news story. This is an incredibly tragic story, as such, it needs to be handled objectively with journalistic integrity, instead of being covered like it was a monster truck rally.

UK’s The Sun has managed to run a shark-related news story without going over the top with the sensationalism. The article, Shark Angel, briefly describes the efforts of Julie Andersen of Shark Angels. Unfortunately, it seems that somebody dropped the ball on writing the captions for the photos that were included in the story.

This photo (click the link, as I don’t have the rights to display it here) is accompanied by the caption, “Saved … Shark Angel frees creature from net.” Sadly, the “creature” in the photo, a sand tiger shark, appears well past the point of saving and looks to be quite dead. In fact, what appears to be the same shark can be seen in the Shark Angels video below.

Photo caption blunders aside, I have to give credit to The Sun for taking a step in the right direction, when it comes to steering away from the fear angle and featuring a story about conservation.

Australia’s The 7pm Project has recently posted the following feature on declining shark populations on YouTube.

The video addresses the effects of overfishing and finning on shark populations. Unfortunately, the feature is plagued with the “magic number”, claiming 100 million sharks are killed each year, which is not backed by any solid research (research-backed estimates put the number in 26 million to 73 million range, which is staggering in its own right).

Magic numbers aside, the feature does bring up valid points, including how the media has helped to contribute to misconceptions about the dangers of sharks toward humans. Ian Gordon points out that most people know very little about shark behavior and biology. He also notes that he has been around sharks for 30 years and if sharks were as dangerous as many people believe, he would likely be dead by now.

A California man went head-to-head with a zombie shark and lived to tell about it. Well, not really.

In what can only be likened to the “Balloon Boy” story of shark “news,” a California man has survived, based on his own account, what could only be described as a harrowing encounter with a mako shark. Dale Kobetich told Surfline.com that a mako shark circled him for 20 minutes and charged him at one point. Kobetich even managed to snap several photos of the shark to document his ordeal, including a close-up shot when shark charged him (you can view them at the Surfline.com article by clicking the “next” link at the top of the story).

At first glance, this may seem to be just a run of the mill story about some guy over-exaggerating a harmless encounter with a shark while doing a little underwater photography. However, I can assure that it’s not. You see, what Kobetich does not mention in the original Surfline.com article is that the mako shark featured in his photos is deader than dirt, which can mean only one thing…it’s a ZOMBIE SHARK!!!

Or…it could mean that Kobetich fabricated the whole story after buying the shark from a Newport Beach Pier fisherman for $70 and dragging its carcass out into the water for a photo shoot, as he has since admitted to Surfline.com. Kobetich claims that he did it, so that people could “take it for the art of the photographs” and not for any kind of notoriety or financial gain. Personally, I don’t view photos of dead shark carcass as art, but maybe that’s just me.

While Kobetich’s hoax seems harmless enough on the surface, the reason it rubs me the wrong way is that he played on people’s fears toward sharks, which perpetuates misconceptions that people who are not familiar with sharks may have. Some of the comments accompanying the original Surfline.com article show that at least some of the readers bought into his story hook, line and sinker, as there are people discussing his bravery and courage. Kopetich also suggests in the original article that he was in imminent danger, due to the presence of the mako. This assumption of danger along with the account that the small mako circled him for 20 minutes is a pretty good indication that even an experienced underwater photographer, like Kopetich, can buy into stereotypes about sharks that are largely based on fiction. To me, that’s the most pathetic aspect of this “story.”

Thanks to the Underwater Thrills: Swimming With Sharks blog for pointing out this whopper of a fish story.

An 18′ (5.5m) whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was found by divers off the shores of Tingloy, Batangas with its dorsal and pectoral fins sliced off, according to a news release from the World Wildlife Fund – Philippines. The whale shark, known locally as “butanding,” was still alive when the divers found it on Monday. The shark was towed to calmer waters in Caban Cove, where efforts were made to flank and support the shark, but it inevitably died the next day as a result of its injuries. Obvious knife wounds were observed around the shark’s caudal fin, as well.

Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)

According to the news release, possession or slaughter of whale sharks in the Philippines is prohibited by Republic Act No. 8550 of the Fisheries Administrative Order. Violation of this act is punishable by a maximum fine of P10,000, four years in prison, and revocation of the violator’s fishing license. A GMANews.TV article on the story notes that whale shark meat, known as “tofu meat,” sells for P360 ($8) per kg, while shark fins sell for approximately one hundred times as much at P36,000 ($800) per kg.

The WWF has officially condemned the act and is calling for “enhanced enforcement” and for the responsible parties to be prosecuted.

Last week Cinema Blend ran a story about a Jaws remake (in 3D, no less), which made mention of Tracy Morgan playing the role of Hooper. Based on the Cinema Blend article, I’m assuming that it’s nothing but nonsense. Morgan recently appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show and was asked about the rumors. If the mention of Morgan having a starring role in Jaws isn’t enough to turn you off to the idea of the remake, this video should do the trick.

Tracy Morgan as Hooper is ridiculous. Tracy Morgan as Chief Brody is even more ridiculous. Tracy Morgan as Quint? Yeah, I think it’s safe to go ahead and call shenanigans on the Tracy Morgan and Jaws rumors from Cinema Blend.

WPTV is reporting that an investigation has been launched to determine if the victim of last week’s fatal shark attack off of Stuart, Florida was photographed by hospital employees at Martin Memorial hospital in violation of HIPPA.

Chief marketing communications officer, Miguel Coty, noted that while it is not uncommon for photos to be taken for documentation and educational purposes, the investigation is focused on why and for what purpose the photos were taken. Coty also stated that upon completion of the investigation, if it is determined that a violation of privacy occurred, it would be responded to with “swift and appropriate measures.”

While this isn’t really shark news, it’s still somewhat relevant to the theme of this site, so I figured I’d post it…

DiscoveryNetworks YouTube channel has recently posted a video of a healthy oarfish shot in the mesopelgic zone (depths between 200m-1000m or 650′-3300′). The video was shot in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the SERPENT project during a survey using an ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle). The scene was captured in August of 2008 at a depth of around 460m (approximately 1500′).

While researchers are still trying to estimate the size of the oarfish in the video, Mark Benfield, of LSU’s Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, thinks that it’s somewhere in the range of 5-10m (16-33′), based on comparisons to an oil rig pipe seen in the video. Benfield also says that oarfish seen near the surface may be the origin of sea serpent myths.