Fury as aquarium reopens with new star ‘whale shark’ attraction but outraged fans notice one problem

Visitors at an aquarium were left fuming after spotting something wrong with its star “whale shark”.

Visitors at an aquarium were left fuming after spotting something wrong with its star “whale shark”.

Fans demanded a refund on their £30 ($A60) tickets over the bizarre creature - but it’s left many questioning what the problem may be.

The Xiaomeisha Ocean World in Shenzhen, China, re-opened to much fanfare at the beginning of October after a five-year renovation - with fans excitedly waiting to see the brand new site.

The 60,000sqm sea park attracted around a whopping 100,000 visitors during its seven-day trial run.

The robotic Whale Shark in the tank. Picture: Jam Press

The aquarium has been slammed for featuring the mechanical creature. Picture: Jam Press

But many were left feeling short-changed after its star whale shark turned out to be a robot.

Snaps taken through the large tank’s glass show how the specimen is clearly a man-made imitation.

There are gaps in its body where different pieces of the machinery would have been joined together.

Visitors on site were angrily demanding their money back over the fake shark, reports claim.

One wrote in a scathing review: “The park isn’t big enough, even the whale shark is artificial.

“By 3pm, people were already calling for refunds on-site.”

Some visitors demanded their money back over the shark. Picture: Jam Press

Another reviewer wrote: “The most disappointing part was the whale shark exhibit.

“When I heard the name, I was full of anticipation, but when I arrived, I saw a mechanical whale shark.

“Even though it’s for the sake of animal protection, I’d rather they didn’t have one at all than show a fake one.

“It’s not interesting at all.”

Xiaomeisha Ocean World said it had put the robot on display because live whale sharks are now prohibited from being traded.

The whale shark - dubbed Rhincodon typus - is the largest known surviving fish species.

The largest confirmed whale shark was an unbelievable 18 metres long.

Visitors watching the fake shark swim around. Picture: Jam Press

The mechanical likeness reportedly cost millions of Chinese yuan to build.

The same visitor also criticised the sea park’s live fish, writing: “The fish care was not professional enough.

“I noticed that some of the fish in the tanks had white spots.

“Most people wouldn’t notice, but anyone who’s kept tropical fish knows that’s white spot disease.

“Some of the fish didn’t appear to be in good health.”

A Chinese zoo was slammed by visitors after dyeing dogs to look like pandas. Picture: Jam Press

The zoo later admitted the animals were painted chow chow pups. Picture: Jam Press

Xiaomeisha Ocean World is not the first Chinese animal park to leave visitors feeling defrauded.

Meanwhile in a similar tale, another China zoo has been slammed for painting dogs to look like pandas in a bid to draw in crowds.

The rubbish dye job was quickly spotted before the Taizhou Zoo was forced to admit the animals were chow chows instead.

A picture of a ticket shared on social media included a snap of the “new species” as the zoo charged £2.25 ($A4.50) to see them during China’s Labour Day holiday.

The dyed pets sparked a wave of complaints against Taizhou Zoo as furious visitors claimed they were led to believe they would see real pandas.

They also questioned whether painting the pups would constitute animal abuse as some dyes might contain harmful chemicals.

Taizhou Zoo later admitted that the “fake pandas” were in fact dyed chow chow pups who debuted their new look for the national holiday.

Despite the confusing name, the zoo didn’t seem to be trying to fool guests into thinking the dogs were real pandas.

A signboard with pictures of “panda dogs” was put up at the zoo, indicating that the name is typically used to describe little dogs that, either naturally or by grooming, can resemble pandas.

A staff member said the zoo got the idea of dyeing the dogs into pandas online.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission