A peek inside Port Townsend's aquarium - Port Townsend Leader

A peek inside Port Townsend's aquarium - Port Townsend Leader

---

A peek inside Port Townsend's aquarium - Port Townsend Leader Posted: 20 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT This time of year, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's aquarium on the Fort Worden dock is typically crawling with visitors each weekend who peer through the glass at fish swimming in their marine habitats or reach  into the touch tanks to feel the textured skin of a sea star. But because of the governor's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order, the many creatures that live in the aquarium have had the place to themselves. Ali Redman, PTMSC's aquarium curator, is one of the few visitors who helps care for and feed the many animals. Below, Redman responds to questions from the Leader about being an aquarium curator and the importance of our marine ecosystems. Q: What are some of your duties as caretaker of these animals? Redman:  There is feeding, of course, and lots of cleaning, but one of the most fun and arguably most important things is observing them. Do they look healthy? Are they stressed? What is their favorite food? Where in the tank do they spend the most time? How do they get along with their tankmates? Q: What is your favorite animal at the aquarium (if you can choose)? Redman:  My heart goes to the slightly improbable —  looking animals, like grunt sculpins and pipefish. They look like beautiful fantasy illustrations, but they are actually extremely well-adapted to their lifestyle. Q: Explain how the aquarium uses Puget Sound water for the tanks — and how this sometimes means new creatures appear in the aquarium. Redman: Our pumps pull water from directly below the aquarium. After it flows through the tanks, the water cascades back to mix with the Salish Sea again. If you look under the pier near the stairs you can see streams of water pouring from each tank. We have 1/8th-inch screens on our intake pipes, but plankton and other small plants and animals can find their way in. Some we love, like the sea slugs (aka nudibranchs) some we could do without (like the barnacles that clog the pipes.) The water flows 24/7 and if there is a problem, an alarm system called the Sensaphone phones us day or night. Q: Do the animals act differently when there aren't any visitors? Redman:  Behavior is always changing, but not so much in regards to visitors. Careful exhibit design and animal selection allows us to avoid animals that would be stressed by visitors. Some of our animals are nocturnal, so they act differently at night. Even we rarely get to see that. Behavior also changes a lot over the year and with temperature. Spring is a really fun time with lots happening as the days get longer, the water warmer, and food more abundant. This week, for the first time, I saw a blackeyed goby laying her eggs while her mate literally prodded her along by bumping into her over and over again. Even being here a lot, I still get to see new things. Q: Why do you like having the aquarium open to people? Redman:  Visitors are fun and important! The aquarium is one of the ways we fulfill our mission of inspiring the conservation of the Salish Sea. Bringing knowledge and wonder to others is a big part of why we do this. Although being in the aquarium is still fun, it's not the same. Not having visitors is like putting on a play without an audience. Hopefully, expanded online activities will allow us to continue our work during this time. We try to keep in touch with our members and visitors as much as possible through our website,  Facebook and Instagram.  We will be doing more Facebook Live events in the future to bring people into our aquarium and in the field with us virtually.  And for anyone looking for more resources to explore on their own, our website now features a page with Online Activities and Events.  Keep your eyes out for a DIY Low Tide walk coming out at the end of this month! Q: Why should we care about protecting marine environments? Redman:  We rely on marine environments for food, oxygen, shoreline protection, recreation, tourism and many more economically valuable services. There are also things that are harder to put a monetary value on, such as the wonder and awe they inspire in us.  Q: Why are these marine animals important for their ecosystems? Redman: While we know that each animal plays an important role in the ecosystem, it isn't always clear what that role is. For animals like sea otters and sunflower stars (both top consumers of urchins) the importance of their role in controlling urchin populations only fully came to light when their numbers declined and we could see the devastating effects on our shared environment, and on fisheries in particular. That's why it is important to protect the environment as a whole, even if we don't yet know the individual importance of its parts.

Japanese aquarium urges public to video-chat eels who are forgetting humans exist - The Guardian Posted: 01 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT When the garden eels at a Tokyo aquarium remove their heads from the sand, they are usually confronted by pairs of human eyes staring back at them through the glass. But like other animals around the world, the eels at Sumida Aquarium are finding their environment transformed by the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. They also appear to be forgetting what humans look like. Concerned that the garden eels – so named because their grass-like appearance when, en masse, they poke their heads out of the seabed – could come to see visitors as a threat, the aquarium is asking people to get in touch in the form of a calming video calls. The aquarium, housed in Tokyo Skytree – Japan's tallest structure – has been closed since the start of March and its garden eels have become used to a largely human-free environment. But the aquarium said the "unprecedented situation" had put the eels and other creatures ill at ease. "They don't see humans, except keepers, and they have started forgetting about humans," it said on its Twitter account this week. "Garden eels in particular disappear into the sand and hide every time the keepers pass by," it said, adding that their oversensitive nature was making it difficult to monitor their health. "Here is an urgent request," the aquarium wrote. "Could you show your face to our garden eels from your home?" it said, naming the event a "face-showing festival". While garden eels are sensitive and wary by nature, the 300 of them living in one of the aquarium's tanks had grown accustomed to human visitors and rarely hid when approached by visitors. To help the eels reconnect with their admirers, the aquarium is setting up five tablets facing their tank, with users asked to connect through iPhones or iPads via the FaceTime app. Once the video calls start, people are asked to show their faces, wave and talk to the eels. But, given the animals' natural bashfulness, they are requested not to raise their voices. The festival is scheduled for 3-5 May, at the height of the Golden Week holiday, when many people who would normally travel are staying home during the country's Covid-19 state of emergency. The aquarium's plea has attracted lots of online support, under the Japanese hashtag #PleaseRememberHumans. "'When you gaze at the garden eels, the garden eels gaze at you.' Understood. I'm happy to take part," one Twitter user wrote. "They need training to learn humans are not a threat!" another wrote. "Interesting." Many called on the aquarium to offer access to the eels via another app to allow those using PCs and phones with Android operating systems to take part. "I never regretted my Android phone this much before," one wrote.

You are subscribed to email updates from "aquarium tank online" - Google News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States