8/25/2023 0 Comments Very modern fish tankGolinsky, J., 2005. Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the history of science Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Brunner, B., 2011, The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium. London: Reaktion Books.Brock, W.H., 1991, ‘The Warrington-Gosse Aquarium Controversy: Two un-recorded letters’, Archives of Natural History 18 (2): 179-183.Armstrong, I., 2008. Victorian Glassworlds: Glass, culture and the imagination, 1830-1880. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This involves simulating ecosystem data gathered from wild reefs in Fiji and Guam. One example is that of the Horniman Aquarium’s behind-the-scenes work on captive coral breeding. This is where aquarium-centred conservation and restoration projects faithfully imitate natural ecosystems. Tanks are also used backstage for “mimetic experimentation” (Golinsky, 2005 p.98). Today, all large-scale aquariums feature acrylic tunnels to surround their visitors with water and fishes, achieving what has been called ‘immersion exhibitry’ (Reid, 2001). New generation aquariums like the Monterey Bay Aquarium (1984) used acrylic not glass for their vast tanks because of superior light transmission, insulation and flexibility. Public aquariums with improved husbandry regimes could now respond to critical public voices and prioritise an emerging conservation agenda. Matters improved at the end of the twentieth century when well-run research aquariums and institutes with stable tank ecologies and healthy stock became models for mainstream reinventions. High animal mortality rates were routinely countered with seasonal restocking (Reid, 2001). It relied on casks of seawater brought by train and a steam-driven circulation system devised by its Superintendent, the retail aquarist William Alford Lloyd (1826-1880).ĭespite best efforts, many public aquariums suffered decades of technical shortcomings that impacted on animal welfare levels. In 1871, Britain’s first large-scale aquarium opened in a basement of the re-sited Crystal Palace structure in South London. Its success led to other aquariums opening in Britain, Europe, and the U.S.A in the next two decades. Dubbed ‘The London Fish House’, it kept its crabs, molluscs, and fish healthy with little need for aeration or water changes. In 1853, a ‘Marine Vivarium’ opened in Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens, London. In the wake of the extravagant displays of the London’s Great Exhibition (1851) and its glazed Crystal Palace complex, aquariums increasingly looked to exploit the “mass transparency” of glass to satisfy a spectacle-hungry population (Armstrong, 2008). How did the public aquarium develop in Britain?Īnna Thynne (1806-1866) is credited with opening London’s first biologically balanced marine aquarium when she put her corals and sponges on public display at Westminster Abbey in 1847 (Stott, 2003). One Victorian aquarist wrote that whilst ‘Aquarium mania’ had now passed, for the serious student, aquariums remained “a triumph of art acting as the handmaid of science.” (Hibberd, 1860 pp.2-3). The novelty of a glass-fronted natural theatre quickly waned as domestic aquarium husbandry proved taxing for many. Many houses were already furnished with glazed terrariums – conversation pieces housing delicate plants – so aquariums were the next fashionable step. The Glass Duties Repeal Act (1845) made industrial plate glass cheaper and so retailers like Lloyds in London sold prefabricated ‘parlour pond’ tanks at prices that further fueled the mania (Newman, 1873). These glass cases had first been used to transport plants across what was the British Empire. Direct inspiration for the aquarium as a regulated environment came from the sealed growing containers devised by amateur botanist Dr. Zoologist Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794-1871) put her ocean specimens into wooden boxes that relied on a system of hoses to refresh the water. He was not alone in his search for such “visible knowledge” (Golinsky, 2005 p.95), other pragmatic collectors and scientists were hard at work too.Īs early as the 1820s, biologist Sir John Dalyell (1775-1851) was refreshing the seawater in his sea-anemone containers each day, keeping them alive for many years. Gosse spent many years trying to understand the interplay of animals, plants, and photosynthesis in a captive saltwater community. Suspended above the tank was an aeration unit, dripping two gallons of salt water into it each day. It had glass panes secured with putty and wood beading, and a slate base covered in clay, sand, and rock. One of his first tanks measured 2ft x 1ft x 1ft and held 20 gallons of water. Gosse (1810-1880) popularised the well-maintained rectangular glass vessel and coined the modern term aquarium.
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