Tiger sharks and the occasional great white and whale shark can be seen farther out to sea.

BBC: Protecting sharks off Florida��s eastern coast

Recently, the island was abuzz when a whale shark was spotted near the ship.

CNN: A worthy wreck for divers: USS Kittiwake

All that was left of the whale shark was a bunch of slop.

NEWYORKER: Swimming

But if enough rich tourists want to behold a whale shark, eating them may soon look like a foolish option.

ECONOMIST: Whale sharks

Speedboats frequently whiz past us carrying resort tourists on whale shark-spotting trips.

BBC: Tagging whale sharks in the Maldives

In total, UPS owns 230 jets ranging in size from Boeing 757s to 747-400s, some of which have ferried everything from a whale shark to an iceberg chunk.

ENGADGET: Inside UPS' Worldport: How a shipping titan moves 2,000 packages every 17 seconds

The government is therefore interested in discovering more about the beasts, so as not to kill the shark that lays the golden egg (though one recent finding is that whale sharks, unlike many of their relatives, actually give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs).

ECONOMIST: Whale sharks

Mr. Palsson, a bellhop, has no interest in whale and other traditional Icelandic foods such as smoked sheep head, goat testicles and rotten shark.

WSJ: Supersize Me: Whale Meat Resurfaces on Iceland Menus