A first look at realism - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 35

the rocks resembled that on the natural rocks around them, we would
collect and install them in the aquarium in exactly the configuration
I had sketched out. It would be hard work, but I had a vision of the
exhibit looking as close as we could get to the real underwater world.
This ambitious plan was not to be, unfortunately, for I left Marineland
shortly afterward. That means that somewhere out there on that reef,
my carefully selected rocks must look perfect by now.
COLORFUL ROCKFISH
All fish are interesting to an ichthyologist. But the average aquarium
visitor wants to see lots of colorful fishes, as well as exciting creatures
like eels, octopuses, and sharks. It seems we humans derive pleasure
from seeing bright colors, whether on fish, birds, butterflies, or flow-
ers. That's not a problem if one is exhibiting creatures from the trop-
ics, where there are hundreds of colorful fish to choose from, but here
in California there are few colorful fish living in the shallow, diver-
accessible waters.
One vivid California species, the brilliant-orange garibaldi ( Hypsipops
rubicunda ), is brightly colored for a good reason. It's advertising the
fact that it's a tough dude and if you're another garibaldi you'd better
keep your distance from its territory. Crowding these fish in an aquar-
ium will result in constant fighting and an unhealthy level of stress. A
tank full of colorful garibaldi, therefore, doesn't work. One or two in
a fairly large tank is about right; more than that means trouble.
Other colorful fish live along our Pacific Coast. They're in the rockfish
family (Scorpaenidae), a family of about sixty-five species, and most
are marked by shades and patterns of red. Even though they're one of
the most common groups of fishes caught by both commercial and
sportfishermen, the colorful ones are rarely seen in aquariums.
The most brightly colored rockfish live in moderately deep water.
They have a large, gas-filled swimbladder that enables them to con-
serve energy by making them neutrally buoyant. That works out just
fine as long as the fish stays pretty much at the same depth, but the
large swimbladder becomes a major problem for the aquarium collec-
tor. When captured on hook and line in deep water and brought rapidly