Pelagic fishes - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 281

it would also have an impact on the scheduling of the conditioning of
the filters and the fish collecting, acclimation, and moving that all
needed to be done before opening day. We would still be able to meet
the already publicized opening date, but it would be tight, with no mar-
gin for any more delays.
Marty Manson, project manager for the exhibits in the new wing,
her friend “Slim,” and I flew to Mexico. With Slim, a professional race
car driver, at the wheel, we made it from Mexico City to the tile com-
pany in Cuernavaca, and there we selected the best blue color with which
to redo the entire back wall of the tank. The new batch of tile was pro-
duced on time, trucked to Monterey, and installed. When the tank was
filled, the curved back wall looked good, with no corners or angles vis-
ible to spoil the illusion of endless water. Up close, the individual tiles
were visible enough to warn the tuna that there was a wall. I felt
confident that many years from now it would still look as good; there
would be no reason to have to remove fish to repair a failing wall finish.
However, as with anything totally new, only time would tell.
MACKEREL AND MORE
The large pelagic-fish exhibit would be the centerpiece of the Outer
Bay Wing, but there were many smaller exhibits to design as well. The
principal interpretive themes of the new wing were the two main types
of open ocean life: the plankton, those animals and plants that drift
with the ocean currents, such as jellies; and the nekton, animals that
actively swim, including fishes, squids, and marine mammals.
We'd already done a popular special exhibit on jellies. We also knew
that other aquarium sta¤ had seen it and were planning their own jelly
displays. To stay at the forefront of the friendly competition among
public aquariums, we knew that we had to create something truly dra-
matic with our new jelly exhibits.
John Christiansen took on the challenge. Expanding on the tank de-
sign we developed for “Planet of the Jellies,” he created exhibits that
were to be quite a challenge to fabricate but would prove to be awe-
some in both their size and their visual impact. The largest, and one
that rivals the million-gallon open ocean tank in its magnificent