Living Arts Tour

I went to an educator’s open house at Living Arts, an aquarium fish wholesaler and custom saltwater aquarium company.

Check out some of the pictures over at the slide show section. Note the Touch Tanks - 50 gallon plastic drums with invertebrates they are going to ship out to the Aquarium trade. They are open for tours by school groups.

They are also involved with a "post larval fish" effort.

Most tropical reef fish spawn in the early evening. Grouping together, they swim in a mad rush towards the surface. The males and females release eggs and sperm resulting in tiny transparent young (larvae) that drift in the open ocean as part of the plankton community for days or even weeks.

Eventually, if they are lucky or conditions are right, they drift back near enough to shore to settle out on the reef. At this point they are “post-larval” and look like tiny transparent versions of the adults. They color (pigment) quickly, often in the first 24 hours – but their mortality is still high – 80% may not make it past this stage.

Living Arts is working with Eric Clua (actually a shark expert as well) from New Caledonia and others across the Pacific to build a sustainable business – collecting at the “post-larval” stage rather than collecting adult fish from the reef. Interesting concept – I wish them luck.

Aloha,

Mark