But that doesn’t mean such hopes aren’t right, that efforts are futile, or that this video isn’t worth sharing with as many people as you can, via your own reef blogs and websites:

Coral reefs and climate change, a message for Copenhagen.

Further reading:

1. Coral reefs recover from 2004 tsunami
2. Seacology’s Indonesia EcoReef project restores coral reefs with ceramic structures
3. Three new deep water reefs discovered off the coast of Florida

The highlight of the London Aquarium relaunch is new ‘Shark Walk’ over the surface of the water.

Perspex viewing windows enable you to look down on tiger, brown, zebra and nurse sharks, as well as southern stingrays, and an escape route has been built in for those who find a 4-metre long shark scarier than they expected to.

The aquarium, which employs 64 staff and is now aiming to position itself as a research and breeding centre, says that dozens more fishes have been added to the collection, which includes the world’s biggest captive shoal of cownose rays.

The Times has reviewed the new aquarium, noting that:

At £15.25 a ticket for an adult and £11.75 for kids, the spruced up London Aquarium isn’t cheap.

There is a small discount for a family of four, but you’ll easily spend quadruple that on a round of ice creams in the café. It can get crowded and the darker, smaller parts of the tour can be a bit claustrophobic, so avoid peak times.

But there’s a bountiful supply of amphibians to look at. Watching the rays being fed, listening to a shark talk and making sea life badges will keep most kids and adult fish fans amused for the best part of a day.

The revamped London Aquarium isn’t vastly different from its former self, but it remains a safe bet for an Easter outing.

The Evening Standard says the sharks justified the trip:

The £5million refit has seen several changes, most notably a glass tunnel under the tropical tank and a floating glass walkway above the sharks. And yet at first glance, not a lot seems to have changed in the depths of the former County Hall building. [...]

There are masses of educational videos and notices, but in reality it’s the shark walkway that makes it worth the £15.25 entry fee.

The aquarium was re-opened last night with a Return to Atlantis-themed launch party for 450-guests, as the management also stressed its credentials as a conference and events venue.

With London Zoo’s Biota! being built out in East London, the London Aquarium must hope its new sharks have some long-term bite.

Further reading:

1. The London Aquarium is to get a £5 million makeover
2. London Zoo Aquarium looking for qualified keepers
3. Moscow Zoo to get giant new public aquarium

Happily, he squeezed back out again after half an hour.

Check out the full story at Pantagraph.com.

Further reading:

1. Giant octopus eats shark: Fish of the week
2. Treating white spot disease
3. Indonesian reef restored via underwater electrical structures

The BBC reports that the ‘Dracula’ fish is about 17mm (0.7 inches) long, and hails from just one stream in Burma.

It has been named Danionella dracula after the fictional bloodsucker.

The fangs are used by sparring males, and don’t actually draw blood, says Dr Ralf Britz, a museum researcher and aquarist who coincidentally was recently interviewed by Practical Fiskkeeping magazine.

The fish came to the UK via a consignment of aquarium fish, Dr Britz told BBC News:

“After a year or so in captivity they started dying; and when I preserved them and looked at them under the microscope, I thought ‘my God, what is this, they can’t be teeth’,”

“And when I looked in more detail, and stained the bone and cartilage with different colours and used an enzyme to dissolve away the muscle, I saw they clearly were not teeth.”

The Dracula fish has instead developed teeth-like protrusions from its jawbone, as well as the fangs.

DNA data suggests the teeth were dropped some 50 million years ago.

Further reading:

1. Debelius pygmy seahorse one of five newly discovered species
2. Histiophryne psychedelic: A crazy new fish species
3. 15,000 fish found dead in Manchester canal

BEIJING — China will release millions of fish into its third-largest freshwater lake to eat algae that threatens its water quality, state media said Friday.

The 927-square mile (2,400-square kilometer) Taihu lake is a major drinking water source in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, and saw an outbreak of algae in 2007 that cut water supplies to 2 million residents.

About 10 million fish such as silver carp and grass carp will be released as part of the five day campaign by four cities surrounding the lake, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

“The biological treatment using the algae digestion ability of the fish is expected to fundamentally rehabilitate the lake,” Lin Jianhua, head of the Taihu Lake Fishing Administration, was quoted as saying.

He estimated it would take 100 million fish to clean the lake.

The full story at GMANews.tv explains that sewage and pollution from local factories originally caused the problem.

Further reading:

1. Chinese selling live goldfish in keyrings as Olympic souvenirs
2. The London Aquarium is to get a £5 million makeover
3. The London Aquarium relaunches after a £5 million makeover

A post on CNET started the Google Ocean rumours. The site reports that former vice president Al Gore will be speaking at a Google Earth event on February 2nd, but adds that:

It’s another speaker’s name that gives the tip-off about what the event might be about.

That person is oceanographer Sylvia Earle, explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and the founder of the Deep Search Foundation.

Hmm–an aquarium, oceanographer, and a high-profile politician interested in the fate of the Earth. Perhaps this will be the announcement of Google’s work to add 3D ocean maps to Google Earth?

An invitation to the event described it only as an announcement of “the next big step in the evolution of Google Earth.” 

The Google Ocean tool was originally mooted back in April 2008:

The company has assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts, and in December invited researchers from institutions around the world to the Mountain View, Calif., Googleplex. There, they discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The tool–for now called Google Ocean, the sources say, though that name could change–is expected to be similar to other 3D online mapping applications. People will be able to see the underwater topography, called bathymetry; search for particular spots or attractions; and navigate through the digital environment by zooming and panning.

The event will take place at San Francisco’s newly refurbished California Academy of Sciences on February 2nd. Watch that space!

Further reading:

1. Google Ocean confirmed with Google Earth 5.0
2. More dead zones in the ocean discovered
3. Ocean@Home gets redesign, new focus

“It wasn’t any kind of gross negligence or someone who didn’t know what they were doing. It was a real misunderstanding about the location of a sensor,” said Paul Grayson of the Indianapolis Zoo.

The zoo says on Monday it had to shut down the ozone generator, and a special sensor that measures ozone, to make repairs.

Problems started when a new shift of workers took over. They didn’t know the ozone sensor was off.

“Some staff who didn’t realize that sensor was in the line thought it would be ok to start the generator. As a result of that ozone levels began to raise to dangerous levels,” Grayson said.

Two snappers that shared the tank survived the incident. The zoo says it’ll cost about $1,000 to replace each shark.

Further reading:

1. Moscow Zoo to get giant new public aquarium
2. Are you celebrating Zoo Keeper Week?
3. London Zoo Aquarium looking for qualified keepers

Executive Vice President John Calvelli warns that:

“Governor Paterson’s proposed state budget cuts this year and the complete elimination of state funding in fiscal year 2010 for zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums mean the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium face devastating cuts.

This year alone, living museums, like the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium, are singled out for the largest reduction. Next year, 76 zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums are zeroed out of the budget.

It is clear: We can’t fire our bears or furlough our sea lions. All options are on the table, including cutting staff and services.”

Visit the society’s Save Our Zoo and Aquarium campaign page for an easy-to-email letter of protest.

Further reading:

1. Are you celebrating Zoo Keeper Week?
2. Dream job: Snorkelling in central New York
3. Moscow Zoo to get giant new public aquarium

[The shop said] “I can’t sell you the fish today unless you have the tank and filter etc. and get it settled for a week.”

My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief … it’s a bl**dy fish, we said to each other in the car.

Yes, it is a bl**dy fish, which is exactly why it needs proper care and attention. It’s a living thing. Even goldfish need proper aquariums, not goldfish bowls. (Why am I not surprised the writer got his first fish from a fairground?)

I’ll freely admit that at the deep end of the hobby we can get pretty fanatical, spending more on a reef tank or a planted aquarium then we’d spend on a wedding. But at the Joe Public entry-level end, people have a slapdash attitude to fish that they would never have with a puppy or a kitten.

Fish are even more vulnerable, when you think about it, because they are totally reliant on us keeping their environment in a state where it can sustain life. At least a badly-cared for dog isn’t going to get poisoned by the air it breathes.

Full marks for the fish retailer, though. Too often they sell anything to anyone. The writer doesn’t realize how lucky he was to find a decent retailer who cared for its animals.

Further reading:

1. Find retailers with Local Fish Store Locator
2. Aquarists and fish trade must support conservation, says Michigan retailer
3. Chinese selling live goldfish in keyrings as Olympic souvenirs

Zoologist Dr David Booth from the University of Queensland, Australia, has been conducting experiments to discover how much energy it takes a baby turtle to dash across the sand, evade the gulls, dodge the first fish waiting just offshore, and eventually make it to deep water:

“I fitted each hatchling with a lycra swim suit with a chord attached to a force transducer, before setting the youngster free in a seawater aquarium. As soon as they entered the water, the youngsters began swimming quickly with their large front flippers, pulling against the force transducer as if they were swimming out to sea.”

Dr Booth calculates the hatchlings’ yolk sacs contain a massive ten times the energy they require for their estimated 18 hour swim to the depths.

All turtles used in the experiments were returned to the ocean afterwards.

Further reading:

1. University of Florida breeds spotted green puffer fish
2. $295 to dive into the Baltimore Aquarium
3. Chinese selling live goldfish in keyrings as Olympic souvenirs