Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
When everything was finally completed—the permit process, the tank
and life support, and the building to house it all—another celebration
was held by the Hopkins and aquarium sta¤s. Unlike the highly in-
formal party we threw at Moss Landing, this one was respectable and
nobody ended up in a tank.
Now that we had a first-class holding facility, the next project was
to move all the tuna from Moss Landing to the new tanks at Hopkins.
A diesel truck and driver were chartered and the new tuna transport
tank was loaded on. The tank was filled with warm, sixty-eight-degree
water and driven over to the Moss Landing tuna facility. There the hold-
ing tank was drained down, and Chuck Farwell, John O'Sullivan, Car-
olyn Darrow, and aquarist Scotty Greenwald climbed down a ladder
into the knee-deep water. Using a crowder made of smooth plastic, they
separated two fish from the school of nervous tuna and guided them
with their hands into the fish stretchers. These were lifted up and passed
to others who ran them outside to the waiting truck.
Safely released into the tank, the two tuna circled without touching
the tank wall. We were very relieved to see them adjust so well. Eigh-
teen fish were loaded into the truck tank and driven over to Monterey.
A second run was then made for the rest. This was the first time we'd
moved fish this large, and all of them made it just fine.
BRINGING TUNA HOME
Our initial experimental work now complete, we felt confident that
we could catch, transport, and keep small- to medium-sized yellowfin
tuna. We also had three large holding tanks ready and waiting to stock-
pile fish for the new exhibit tank. Despite these successes, however, we
still had a lot to learn about tuna husbandry.
When we first began working with the tuna we assumed that be-
cause they're warm-blooded fish with a high metabolism and rapid
growth rate, they needed lots of high-energy food. We therefore fed
them to satiation two times a day with herring, anchovies, and squid,
all of which they ate eagerly.
One day we lost one of the larger, older fish when it collided with
the wall. During the autopsy we realized that something was seriously
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