Well, actually it got 15 hours. On display, that is, in the Monterey Bay Aquarium before being released back into the Bay. A relatively unknown Prickly shark (Echinorhinus cookei) was collected at the head of the Monterey submarine canyon off Moss Landing. Prickly sharks get their name from the "prickly" or "thorny" texture of their dermal denticles, the scale-like outgrowths which cover the skin of many cartilaginous fish including sharks. The shark was a 6-foot, 8-inch male that weighed 189 pounds. Little is known about the biology and behavior of Prickly sharks in the wild.
After the shark was introduced into one of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's display tanks, staff biologists observed the shark was not doing as well as they had hoped. At times it was floating vertically, then it would float belly up near the surface.
This is giving me a wicked case of deja vu. Wasn't there a scene in Jaws III (in 3D) where against the better judgement of the sassy marine biologist, Sea World boss "Calvin Bouchard" (played by the always subtle Louis Gossett Jr) places a captured Great White shark on display (in a touch tank) so as to rake in admission sales? That shark went belly-up too.
I know what I'm renting tonight!
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