<p>Two new whale sharks arrived at the world's largest aquarium Friday.</p><p>Both whale sharks _ the world's largest fish _ arrived at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta after 6 a.m. less than 30 minutes apart.</p><p>The trucks carrying the whale sharks were each surrounded by an escort of Atlanta police cars with flashing blue lights.</p><p>The two whale sharks had been flown 8,000 miles from Taipei, Taiwan.</p><p>The two young males were given Asian names in honor of their Taiwanese origins.</p><p>One is Taroko, named after Taroko Gorge, a national park in Taiwan. The other is named Yushan, which means "jade mountain," and is named after a mountain in Taiwan.</p><p>Their arrival comes just over four months after Ralph, a whale shark who became one of the aquarium's stars after it opened in 2005, died in January.</p><p>Aquarium officials said stomach problems that led to an inflammation of a membrane in the shark's abdomen led to his death.</p><p>The death led some animal rights groups to question a chemical used in the tank to treat parasites, which could have curbed the sharks' appetite and led to force-feeding.</p><p>But aquarium officials said they are convinced that wasn't the case, and Taiwan fishery officials said they were satisfied the aquarium provides quality care of the animals before sending the two new fish its way.</p><p>The new arrivals join one male whale shark, Norton, and two females, Alice and Trixie, in their 6 million-gallon tank. The sharks are the only ones of their kind on display outside Asia.</p><p>In addition to the whale sharks, the aquarium's 8 million gallons of tanks feature more than 100,000 fish, beluga whales and other rare animals.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2debb18)</p>
