Top-secret operation spirits world's largest fish to AtlantaThere were code names, secret agreements and very large creatures being moved quietly around the world under cover of darkness.  By the time the maneuvering ended, just before dawn Friday, the Georgia Aquarium had two rare whale sharks — the largest fish in the world — swimming in its huge tanks. The gentle plankton-eating giants give Atlanta and its big fish tank downtown a solitary distinction. The aquarium, still under construction near Centennial Olympic Park, boasts the only whale sharks in the United States — and the only ones in captivity outside Asia. That fact set the aquarium world abuzz and will likely translate into banner headlines and swollen crowds for the aquarium's opening Nov. 23. "I have said that this is going to be the most unusual, the most wonderful aquarium in the world, and I'm sticking to it," a beaming Bernie Marcus said Friday at a quickly staged press conference after word of the big catch leaked. 

The juvenile fish — one nearly 16 feet long, the other 13 feet — were spirited out of eastern Taiwan this week, placed aboard special "life support" tanks in a United Parcel Service 747 aircraft in Taipei and flown to Atlanta. By 5 a.m. Friday, they had been whisked into the Georgia Aquarium, where they could grow to a length of 50 feet or more, weigh 15 tons and live for decades. 

Marcus, the 76-year-old Home Depot co-founder who is spending $200 million of his fortune on the aquarium as a gift to the state's residents, has wrapped a tight veil of secrecy around the whale shark acquisition in particular and his plans for the aquarium in general. The male fish were code-named "Ralph and Norton," after characters on the old "Honeymooners" TV series to cloak their unique identities.   For the first time Friday, Marcus confessed that the Georgia Aquarium, one of the largest in the world, was designed specifically to accommodate whale sharks, a "wow" exhibit in the world of big fish tanks.

The aquarium's tanks will hold more than 5 million gallons of water and more than 55,000 fish and other animals, representing more than 500 species.  Marcus declined to say what he paid for the big fish, but discredited a Chinese news agency report that tagged them at $8,000 each.  The whale shark has distinctive light-yellow markings of random stripes and dots on its very thick, dark-gray skin. Forget about comparisons to "Jaws" — it is a filter feeder, although it has about 300 rows of very tiny teeth. Their prey includes plankton, krill, small fish and squid.  Marcus said he first saw whale sharks three years ago at the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan, while on a trip with his wife, Billi. It was, he recalls, a transcendent moment.  "These fish were mesmerizing," he said of the Okinawa whale sharks, which measure more than 20 feet. "We were on a schedule where we had to keep moving, and I couldn't get away from the window. I just kept staring at these fish."  Marcus said he immediately vowed to bring the aquatic giants to land-locked Atlanta. His Japanese hosts were dubious, doubting that anyone in the United States was willing to spend the money to build a tank big enough, or a facility complex enough, to house the huge fish.  "They said, 'There's no way you can do it. There's nobody in the United States that can do it.' Today, we proved we can do it," Marcus said.  Not everyone shared Marcus' delight.

Marie Levine of the Shark Research Institute in New Jersey said whale sharks often don't do well in captivity. She said many die shortly after being placed in aquariums.  "I am just livid," Levine said. "I am so angry. It's absolutely unconscionable to do this to animals so rare. Whale sharks don't do well in captivity."  Levine said the Georgia Aquarium in 2003 tried to obtain two whale sharks from a marine sanctuary off the coast of Belize, but when her organization and local groups opposed the move, the aquarium withdrew its proposal.  Jeff Swanagan, director of the Georgia Aquarium, disputed Levine's assertions. Whale sharks have lived for more than a decade in Asian aquariums, he said. And Atlanta's aquarium, he said, was specifically engineered to meet their needs.  "Most of the people who make that criticism — their criticism is not based in science," Swanagan said. He said research on the animals at the Atlanta facility could help ensure their survival in the wild. The sharks are considered an endangered species in the U.S., Australia, the Philippines and the Maldives. However, in Taiwan the big fish is considered food. The whale shark often is referred to in Chinese as the "tofu shark" because its flesh is soft and white.  Ken Peterson, a spokesman for the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, predicted Atlanta's whale sharks will have a positive impact on conservation efforts.  "We believe people can be inspired to care about and protect animals in the wild by seeing them in well-constructed, well-managed aquarium exhibits," Peterson said.