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One that almost got away

The big fish is coming back. The Vanderbilt Museum is getting ready to unveil a 32-foot whale shark specimen that has been restored from heavy damage that almost did it in.

8:58 AM EDT, August 2, 2008

Restoration of the Rhineodon "Whale Shark" at vanderbilt Museum

Rick Krane of the restoration team works to paint on the characteristic spots of the whale shark (Newsday / Jim Peppler)

The big fish is coming back.

On Saturday, 73 years to the day that a 32-foot whale shark was caught off Fire Island, a newly restored taxidermic specimen of it will be unveiled at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport.

The fish, believed to be the world's largest specimen of taxidermy, has been the centerpiece of the museum's Diorama Hall, which closed to the public in 1996 because leaks from faulty plumbing above the hall made the room unsafe and caused the exhibits to deteriorate.

Carol Ghiorsi-Hart, the Vanderbilt's acting director, said the whale shark was so badly damaged that the museum had to determine whether it could be salvaged and whether it was worth it.

David B. Schwendeman, a third-generation taxidermist and head of Schwendeman's Taxidermy Studio in Milltown, N.J., was asked to lead the restoration of the fish.

"The condition of the whale shark was atrocious," Schwendeman said. "I think of taxidermy as the ultimate in terms of conservation and wise use of our natural resources, and trying to save this, being considered one of America's treasures -- probably the world's largest mounted fish, maybe the largest piece of taxidermy in the world -- I felt it was worthy of saving."

Not that the decision was easy. "I spoke with quite a few who said it's not worth it, don't try it, it's a thankless task," Schwendeman said. "But I did find a few experts in the field who agreed with me and were willing to save the fish."

The Diorama Hall where the shark has hung out had been completed in 1929 and housed nine natural history dioramas featuring more than 250 specimens gathered during the travels of William K. Vanderbilt II.

Artwork and illumination
The backgrounds were painted by American landscape artist Henry Hobart Nichols, who also painted many of the dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. The Vanderbilt dioramas are situated around the perimeter of the room, with a glass floor in the center illuminated in blue from beneath to simulate the ocean.

Sue Hirschmann, a former Vanderbilt Museum curator of natural history and science in the 1990s, recalls what it was like when the Diorama Hall was open and the whale shark hung from the ceiling, surrounded by the other displays.

"As students came in great numbers -- 50,000 school children 150,000 visitors annually during the 1990s -- everyone who saw the whale shark and the surrounding diorama exhibits was just awestruck," she said. "Below the whale shark is a beautiful blue glass floor, which was lit from below, and as people entered the exhibit they could imagine that they were entering the deepwater home and domain of the whale shark."

Feds, county gave funds
The rehabilitation of the shark and the dioramas was funded by a $135,000 federal Save America's Treasures grant and a like amount from Suffolk County. Work is to continue on the dioramas after the hall is reopened.

The male whale shark was caught off Fire Island on Aug. 9, 1935, by Arie and Nicholas Schaper of Islip. It weighed an estimated 16,000 pounds, or 8 tons. They put it on exhibit on Fire Island and then in Manhattan before selling it to Vanderbilt.