Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
rate of 2,000 gallons per minute—fast enough to fill a bathtub in three
seconds. In three hours the 310,000-gallon tank was full. Excitedly we
all went up to the top of the tank to look down into its twenty-eight
feet of crystal-clear water.
For weeks I had planned to celebrate this day by pushing Julie Packard
into the freshly filled exhibit. When the time actually came, though,
I noticed that she was wearing a really nice dress and I chickened out.
She was standing right at the edge; one little nudge would have done
the job. As a phycologist, she would have been the most fitting person
to “baptize” in the centerpiece exhibit of our brand-new aquarium. I
bet she would have felt honored, too.
There are precedents for such apparently disrespectful acts toward
bosses in the aquarium industry. We threw Sea World's president George
Millay into the pool at a party to celebrate the end of our first suc-
cessful summer, and Baltimore's mayor jumped into a tank at the Na-
tional Aquarium when that aquarium failed to open on the promised
day. If only Julie had come to work in blue jeans that day....
The few months leading up to the opening of the aquarium were
incredibly busy. Although Bob and Neil were the o‹cial collectors,
everyone helped out. It's important that all the aquarists participate in
the collection of the animals, rocks, and plants they will be caring for
in their exhibits. Not only do they learn new skills, but they also ap-
preciate their charges much more once they realize how di‹cult they
can be to collect. Just getting out and seeing the environment where
these animals live also gives the aquarist a picture of how an exhibit
should look and what it is we're trying to show our visitors.
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