Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
ing. More important, the temperature in the holding tank on the pickup
had dropped to below fifty degrees Fahrenheit—though somehow all
the fish were alive, even if they certainly weren't moving around with
their usual vigor.
We should have known better than to stop on the top of the moun-
tain, but it did demonstrate how the endemic fishes of the Gulf of Cal-
ifornia have evolved to withstand the extremes in temperature that fre-
quently occur in the upper Gulf. In the summer, temperatures of
eighty-five degrees are not uncommon, yet in winter when the cold
wind comes down from the north the mercury can drop into the low
fifties. Not many other fish in the world can take such a wide range of
temperature.
BRINGING LIFE TO THE EXHIBITS
Ever since the days when I found that ordinary, nonbiologist-type people
were interested in the marine creatures I kept in my home aquariums,
I've enjoyed sharing with others the fascination I myself feel for what
lives in the world of water. One obvious attraction is the beauty of these
animals, but equally fascinating to me are the sometimes amazing strate-
gies they have developed to survive and thrive in a potentially hostile
world. In addition to bringing animals and plants into aquariums, I
have tried to re-create the world in which they live.
When I arrived at Sea World in 1965, all the small aquariums had
relatively sterile-looking artificial rock backgrounds—a far cry from
the bottom of the ocean. True, the surfaces looked like actual rock, but
unlike in the world underwater, nothing was growing on them.
One of the man-made habitats looked so unnatural that I decided to
see if we couldn't bring back part of the real rocky bottom and install
it in place of the artificial rock. After purchasing diver air-lift bags, three
aquarists and I took our dive boat to Point Loma o¤ San Diego, where
we knew there were loose pieces of shale rock riddled with holes made
by boring clams. The empty clam holes were now occupied by other
animals, and the surface of the rock was totally covered with colorful
sea anemones, solitary corals, and coralline algae. It is this profusion of
growth in the underwater world that makes diving so fascinating, and
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