Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The project architects, biologists, and I spent one busy week work-
ing on the aquarium and came up with a design for a nice, small aquar-
ium. It had one large community tank and a number of small- and
medium-sized tanks for the display of Chilean fishes and invertebrates.
The biology students at the university were friendly, enthusiastic,
and knowledgeable, and one evening I was invited to one of their homes
for dinner. Even in the supposed privacy of their home, there was only
whispered talk of political happenings. It was a country of fear and op-
pression. During my stay in Coquimbo the mayor of the city was
gunned down in the lavatory of City Hall. The o‹cial newspaper re-
ported it as a suicide, but everyone knew that he'd been an outspoken
critic of the government and his death was one more political assassi-
nation. The heavy hand of the dictatorship was evident everywhere. I
kept my mouth shut.
Upon entering the living room of the university student, I was bowled
over to see Earl Ebert, a California Fish and Game biologist I'd dived
with many years ago while I was working at Marineland. He was now
head of California Fish and Game's Granite Canyon Lab south of Mon-
terey, and his specialty was the culture of abalone, the giant, edible mol-
lusk of California. He was in Chile to help set up a culture operation
for the red abalone (
Haliotis rufescens
).
CHILEAN BARNACLES
Dr. Cea graciously made sure I got my diving wish when, lending me
a wet suit, tank, and regulator, he took me scuba diving. It was fasci-
nating. Although the water temperature was similar to southern Cali-
fornia's, ranging between 55°F and 68°F, the marine life was strikingly
di¤erent. Underwater I noticed that the surfaces of all the rocks were
almost completely covered with small barnacles. They were so dense,
there was little room for anything else.
I remembered reading somewhere that the sailing route from Ecuador
heading due west was notorious for boats and ships becoming fouled
with barnacles. This route crosses the Humboldt Current flowing up
from Chile in the south. There, covering every rock, I saw the reason
behind the complaint. Those millions of Chilean barnacles release their
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