Finding Nemo. 12/28/2006
I walked into the local aquarium supply shop round the corner this evening. I had been neglecting the fish tank I keep at home, with the single goldfish I have swimming around in it. Someone remarked that the tank wasn’t supposed to be that way, i.e. with murky water, and a non-functioning filter system, and a very miserable looking fish, who hadn’t been taken out for a walk for weeks.
As I walked in the shop, I noticed that there was a very large aquarium out front. Big. Huge. Filled with marine creatures. As in salt water. There were little clown fish in it, and dories, and a couple of triggerfish. And some anemones and brain corals.
I looked at it for the longest time. All the fish were really tiny, as in juveniles. None of them were sexually mature. And all of them were confined in this artificial environment, and put on display. I asked the price for this tank, and just about managed to stop my eyes bugging out of my head.
I am a semi-professional scuba diver, even though I haven’t gotten my fins wet in a long time. And before that, I used to dive in places no one in their right mind would ever go, to depths that would give you decompression sickness just thinking about it. In all those many dives that I’ve done, I’ve always marvelled at the diversity of marine life. The sheer number of shapes, and colours, has never ceased to give me joy, every time I descended into inner space.
And I find it a little sad that some people, who have never ventured any deeper than their swimming pool, could, as long as they had money, take a small section of this beauty and place it in their living rooms. Without considering the damage they are doing to the marine eco system.
Marine animals are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. Everything has to be just so, in order for marine life to pro create. Taking juveniles away from the ocean, and placing them in a tank, means that their contribution to the gene pool is subtracted. And sea creatures do not thrive in aritificial environments. The mortality rate of salt water aquariums is ridiculously high, in a ridiculously short space of time. Someone told me about her uncle, who had a huge salt water aquarium put into his house. I say put in literally, because a wall was demolished, and an aquarium constructed to take the place of the wall. And three months later, the only living thing left was a solitary shark, a pup, swimming alone.
Coral reefs take thousands of years to create. They are also a living organism. The interdepedant relationships in a coral reef are numerous beyond count, and sometimes are connected in ways no one can foresee. A matter of single degree’s rise in water temperature may be enough to stop some species from breeding, and a couple more degrees may result in mass die-offs.
There is nothing more desolate than diving over a dead reef. I have done this many times. And in all cases, the single largest contributor to the death of the reef is mankind. I know of one local resort island, where the resort owner, in the interest of making it easier for his guests to disembark from the boat, built a small jetty. And the construction of this jetty was enough to kill off a 2 acre area of reef just in front of the beach.
So, the next time you walk past one of these very fancy salt water aquariums, and marvel how pretty the clown fish are, swimming around in the tank, think about what it cost, and will cost, to the environment, to get those animals into that tank. And then ask yourself if it’s worth it.
I also know that many of my readers may have seen those cute little clown fish swimming in aquariums, and may be under impression that that’s as big as they get. They get a lot bigger.
Amphiprion, life-size.
- Posted in : General
- Author : thesnark
Comments»
There are some stupid and selfish people around us… they just do no bother. Some of them just merely abuse their exortic pets by caging and confining them.
It breaks my heart to see so many idiots at Redang and the famous holidaying beaches in Malaysia. These fellas are not eco-tourist but eco-terrorist!
Anyways, we are all doomed!
Where is girl friday today?
I wanna scuba dive!!!!!!
well.. some people may have the money but they don’t have the gut to go down to see the real coral themself! some people including me are too busy working for a low pay monthly salary with 2 kid clingging to me all the time… the only time i spent to see corals are in the discovery channel or at the ’selfish saltwater aquarium’. Not everybody have the opportunity to see all the wonderful creature and to enjoy watching them at their very own habitat! So …..thank to saltwater aquarium…. i can teach my kids about clown fish eventhough i had never ventured any deeper than my swimming pool!!! i wish i can scubadive oneday!!!!
majaah : I wasn’t referring to the large aquariums that are open to the public. Provided they are properly maintained, they serve an important role in spreading awareness to the public about the marine environment, especially for those who may not have the chance or ability to do so, as you have correctly pointed out in your comment.
I was making reference to those who have lots of disposable income, and choose to install an expensive vanity item like a saltwater aquarium in their homes, for entirely selfish reasons. In many cases that I have seen, the aquarium eco system will fail after a period, because salt water tanks are very, very expensive to maintain, and very difficult to keep in balance.