Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.110 (Maggots and Canal Zander)

Have you ever noticed that aquariums never have any great white sharks? Well, there's a good reason why. Sometimes, you need a day out to your local aquarium if you have one, of course. 

But, while you're likely to spot everything from dolphins to jellyfish to giant sea turtles on a day out at a sea life attraction, one animal that you're guaranteed not to come across is the great white shark.

While they're a similar size if not smaller than some of the other sea creatures on display, there's a heartbreaking reason why they'll never be held captive.

That is because when a great white shark is held in captivity, they always tend to die. The first recorded incident was in 1955 at Marineland of the Pacific, a former public oceanarium and tourist attraction in LA but the shark didn't last a single day. 

And over the decades, a series of attempts have been made but to no avail – the great whites have all been either released into the wild or died within days in captivity.

The longest record was held by The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is known as the first to successfully care for and display great white sharks. 

It is the only public aquarium in the world to have successfully exhibited a great white shark for longer than 16 days, but even that wasn't without its problems - with one young shark dying shortly after being released into the wild.

So, what's the problem?

First up is their feeding habits as this particular species is carnivorous and tend to only eat live prey, including tuna, rays and other sharks or feed off the carcasses of other animals, like dolphins, porpoises and whales. They also like to snack on seals, sea turtles, otters and birds.

Therefore, it's incredibly hard and expensive to satisfy the dietary needs of this species. There's also the issue of traumatising visitors by dropping live seals and dolphins into the feeding frenzy. What's more, great whites are nomadic and huge, and they cannot stop suddenly or swim backwards. They need to move forward in order to breathe, as vast amounts of water rushes through their open mouths and out of their gills.

Considering they can grow up to 6.1 metres in length, you're going to need a bigger tank than usual to house these creatures. Once again, the costs of achieving this are going to be astronomical.
Last but definitely not least, great whites suffer in captivity, so much so that many of the recorded incidents led to the animals refusing to eat and dying of starvation.

According to Shark Bookings, which offers shark diving experiences in South Africa: "Great White Sharks that are kept within tanks have been known to head butt their noses into the glass walls and lose their appetites. "It has also been noted that they get increasingly aggressive in their depressed state."

I had a dream the other day where I was sitting peacefully watching the float on the canal and a shark fin was spotted coming towards me and proceeded to chase some fish, causing them to launch out of the water 😀

I didn't spot any in this short morning session but the bites were hard to comeby. In-fact it took an hour or so to get the first bite when fishing maggots where I managed a few bream of similar stamp and then some small roach and perch. Certainly hard going actually and when the canal turned in to a river I packed the float gear up and went on the rove to try and catch a Zander.

I managed a couple of schoolies and this 3lber with a couple of the lure guys also on the stretch catching a few 50cm fish. The weather didn't help I'm sure because the sun was beating down on the swims where the fish usually reside.

When an elderly couple walking their dog bumped in to someone they knew coming the other way walking his dog and proceeded to have a conversation about planning, a fence that needed to be paid for and the parish council, literally right next to me, as a misanthrope it was time for the off. 

I had a BBQ to prepare for later you see because it would be rude not to with the weather so nice. This Char Siu Pork is so easy to make with pork fillet marinated in honey, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, light soy sauce, chinese five spice and a nadger of red food colouring. 

And it tastes so authentic too, the dipping sauce is made from soy sauce, honey, red wine vinegar and some sesame seed oil, very nice indeed I must admit. 

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