Question: how long do whale sharks live in captivity

title: Whale shark
text: The first attempt at keeping whale sharks in captivity was in 1934 when an individual was kept for about four months in a netted - off natural bay in Izu , Japan . The first attempt of keeping whale sharks in an aquarium was initiated in 1980 by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium ( then Ocean Expo Park ) in Japan . Since 1980 , several have been kept at Okinawa , mostly obtained from incidental catches in coastal nets set by fishers ( none after 2009 ) , but two were strandings . Several of these were already weak from the capture / stranding and some were released , but initial captive survival rates were low . After the initial difficulties in maintaining the species had been resolved , some have survived long - term in captivity . The record for a whale shark in captivity is an individual that , as of 2017 , has lived for more than 18 years in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium . Following Okinawa , Osaka Aquarium started keeping whale sharks and most of the basic research on the keeping of the species was made at these two institutions . Since the mid-1990s , several other aquariums have kept the species in Japan ( Kagoshima City Aquarium , Kinosaki Marine World , Notojima Aquarium , Oita Ecological Aquarium , and Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise ) , South Korea ( Aquaplanet Jeju ) , China ( Chimelong Ocean Kingdom , Dalian Aquarium , Guangzhou Aquarium in Guangzhou Zoo , Qingdao Polar Ocean World and Yantai Aquarium ) , Taiwan ( National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium ) , India ( Thiruvananthapuram Aquarium ) and Dubai ( Atlantis , The Palm ) , with some maintaining whale sharks for years and others only for a very short period . The whale shark kept at Dubai 's Atlantis , The Palm was rescued from shallow water in 2008 with extensive abrasions to the fins and after rehabilitation it was released in 2010 , having lived 19 months in captivity . Marine Life Park in Singapore had planned on keeping whale sharks , but scrapped this idea in 2009 . 

Answer: answer: Initial captive survival rates were low. The record for a whale shark in captivity is an individual that, as of 2017, has lived for more than 18 years in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.