Great White Shark Makes Rare Appearance in California Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only institution in the world to exhibit a great white shark for over 16 days, and they've just unveiled their sixth ever shark.

The new addition is a male shark that measures four feet, seven inches, weighing 43.2 pounds. Collected off the coast on August 18, he was transferred from Malibu to Monterrey where he was placed in the aquarium's million-gallon Open Sea exhibit on Wednesday.

Aquarium officials say they hope to keep the shark on display for the next several months.

Great whites are not the easiest animals to display. The aquarium's Web site details the previous five sharks and how long they were kept in captivity.

The first was with us for 6 1/2 months; the second, for 4 1/2 months; the third, for 5 months; the fourth, for 11 days, and the fifth, for more than two months. All were successfully returned to the wild.

No matter how big the tank, these sharks are hard to contain. The first shark debuted in 2004 and lived in the tank for a record 198 days. During that time he actually ate two of his tank mates, both soupfin sharks.

The 2009 shark also had to be released when it became aggressive towards other sharks in the exhibit.

I've always said that these animals will tell us when it's time to put them back to the ocean. Now was clearly the time, Randy Hamilton, vice president of husbandry for the aquarium, told The Lost Angeles Times back in 2009.

The great white sharks are a hugely popular display for the aquarium. So far, at least two million people have come over the years to see the great whites at the aquarium.

Visitors leave with a deeper understanding of the need to protect white sharks and their ocean homes as a result of seeing the shark on exhibit, according to the aquarium's press release.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Project White Shark promotes innovative study, awareness, and conservation of the animals. By tagging and exhibiting white sharks, they attempt to promote public understanding and protection of the ecologically important and threatened species.

To watch the great white shark live, visit the aquarium's HD Open Sea cam.