I have seen a couple deep sea aquariums usually for the spider crab, but to my knowledge these tanks are not pressurized to mimic the deep sea. Does anyone know of any other deep sea exhibits? Please include if they are pressurized or not or do u think it would even matter? I am thinking Greenland sharks, but they can be seen swimming close to the surface and still be alive and well. So that would be a tank that wouldn't have to be pressurized, unless its a tank shared with something that does need the pressure. So seen any deep sea exhibits?
The current theory, I think, is that it's not de-pressurisation that kills deep sea fauna when it comes to the surface - it's actually rapid heat change. Certainly spider crabs survive and thrive at low water pressure levels.
I am pretty sure tho that when some deep water fish come to the surface have issues with their swim bladders and i have seen fish brought up that seem to have their eyes bulging out of the sockets from the change in depth. Ive head of cod being brought up too fast and sometimes had organs coming out of their mouths.
This article is from 2004, which suggests that the trap failed. :-( I think many deep sea fish could survive in lower pressure if water is kept cold, some undergo vertical migrations and sometimes, at night, appear at smaller depths. Pity, because deep sea fish are among the most unusual and bizarre animals on the Earth, and we only know them from pictures.
The Monterey Aquarium had a special deep sea exhibit in the 1990s with a whole system of special aquariums to accomodate the pressure needs of the inhabitants. They had some really cool species like eelpouts and anemones that roll around on the ocean floor like tumbleweeds pushed by the currents. Perhaps you could call or e-mail them for details of their husbandry and system? They used to have a recap of past exhibits on their webpage, but I'm not seeing that on the current webpage. Here is an old article I found about the exhibit: http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-03-...-van-dykhuizen-deep-sea-monterey-bay-aquarium It is 4 pages long and gives a very good overview of the exhibit and how it was put together. I wish that it was still there. Here's some highlights of the article regarding deep sea husbandry: "Trying to understand what deep-sea life is like is like solving a mystery. It's a mystery because no one has been able to go that deep, to go out as often as our scientists (now) go out. We get information a bit at a time and piece the parts together. It's an absolutely unknown world." When researchers began exploring this uncharted realm in the early '90s, they didn't know if it was even possible to bring back life from the deep sea, which makes up 80 percent of the living space on earth. "There were no books on this," Van Dykhuizen says. "We could use the techniques we've developed as aquarists to figure these things out, but we weren't sure whether an animal brought up from 1,000 feet that nobody had worked with was going to live. We didn't know what we were going to come up with when we began, so we were just kind of shooting in the dark." But by experimenting constantly with water temperature (most of these creatures live in water around 40 degrees Fahrenheit), light, food, currents and oxygen levels, the biologists learned to keep many species alive for more than a year. Some have survived in tanks for seven or eight years. Realizing that predatory tunicates live in low-oxygen water, for instance, Van Dykhuizen cooked up a device that pumps nitrogen into their tanks and drives out the oxygen molecules. SOME CASUALTIES Other species, particularly midwater fish, jellies and other fragile creatures, are far more difficult, if not impossible, to collect. They've never encountered enclosed environments. Some were brought up but didn't survive. The biologists couldn't figure out what to feed some animals; others died from the change in water pressure. The sea floor-dwelling flapjack octopus kept banging itself against the tank walls. "We said, 'Hey, this animal isn't going to work out,' " says Van Dykhuizen. "There were probably a dozen or so (animals) we targeted that we took off the list. We weren't able to figure out what made them tick. That's not to say we're not going to figure it out someday down the road; that's why they call it 'Mysteries of the Deep.' "
Perhaps there is some deep sea marine biology in your future? The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has a fascinating deep sea life exploration program. There are some truly wonderful critters out there to discover and learn about. There are some books and films on their work if you are interested, and a permanent exhibit at the aquarium.
thanks david! with all the technology we have these days i cant imagine we don't have the ability to build tanks for these guys. into 2011 you know. if we could house some in the 90s id think wed have made some progress. ive seen photos of giant isopods and crabs from the deep. but im also interested in the jellies (which many are gorgious), eels, octopus, and sharks. six gills i know move to the shallows at night to feed and greenland sharks can be surface dwellers. maybe its not the technology, but the knowledge we lack about these guys as u quoted from the article.
You are welcome. It was quite a special exhibit. I remember that they said they didn't make it permanent because they thought people would find the animals not exciting enough. Whatever. Deep sea exploration is very exciting. Dumbo octopi, vampire squids, colossal squid...there's a huge ecosystem out there to explore yet. Our aquariums should work to convey this wonder. Who else is going to do it? James Cameron did some work in this area, but now he is back to making feature films. We need another Jaques Cousteau, or preferably many. Hopefully some of you young'uns will take this up.
well i think they had it temporary because alot of it wasnt real fish. it sounds like a vast majority was photos and video. tho some of it was live video form an exploration. <3 gulper eels, chimaras, and dragonfish. and we cant forget about good old angler fish. and of course its like painting with lights down there when it comes to jellies. and the siphonophores.... just amazing!
They actually do have a permanent exhibit now with videos and graphics about their deep sea exploration. The temporary exhibit was almost all live animals. They had at least one deep-sea shark species. The cat shark I think. The pom-pom anemones were cool because they were like tumbleweeds blowing all over. They intended originally for it to be a permanent part of the aquarium expansion in 1996 that included the huge open ocean tank (where the great white shark , tuna, etc. live), but they decided to make it a temporary exhibit gallery instead.
Most fish can, for short periods, survive pretty extreme temperature changes. The biggest problem is, by far, change in pressure. In the marine aquarium trade fish of relatively deep water (50-150 m./165-500 ft. depth) have been pursued with greater level of interest in recent years because some of the species can sell for many thousand dollars. Even species that are believed to be quite widespread in the wild but just are difficult to get because of the depth they live at and therefore rare in the marine aquarium trade can command such prices. Most deep water fish (both to private aquarists and public aquariums) are caught by people using profesional rebreather systems, and less often by small submarines or traps. A sometimes used practice is to 'deflate' the swim bladder of the fish with a fine sterile needle when it reaches the surface. This solves some of the problems but the mortality rate is still much higher than in fish found at shallower depths. Slowly bringing them to the surface is also sometimes used (the most I have heard of was 2-3 days) and at least one big Japanese aquarium has a pressure tank they use to slowly lower the pressure. When they have acclimaticed to low pressure, the big limits for long term keeping are low temperature (easy but expensive to solve, especially for aquariums in warm climates), low light (easy to solve but reaching a balance between being able to see the animal and it thriving can be hard) and oxygen (easy to solve but expensive). But even in that there are big differences. In tropical regions many fish of quite deep waters do well in 15-20 Celcius/60-70 Fahrenheir water but deep water species from colder regions often need water below 10 Celcius/50 Fahrenheit. Some of the tropical deep water species are less familiar to most deep water fans than the temperate deep water species, but they can be stunningly beautiful like Jeboehlkia gladifer, Sacura speciosa (this was caught at 'only' 40 m/130 ft, but that's the shallowest record ever), Paracentropyge boylei and Cephalopholis igarashiensis. For people with interest in deep water Hawaii species the new Northwestern Exhibit at Waikiki Aquarium should be interesting. Several of the species in it like Genicanthus personatus, Apolemichthys arcuatus and a new species of Prognathodes are essentially deep water species that however are found at shallower depths at the colder northwestern islands. I don't think anyone yet has managed to bring up any fish from deeper than about 300 m/1000 ft and have it survive for more than a few weeks at most, and only fish from down to about 1/3 that deph are collected with 'semi-regularly'. In fact, all the species I have seen listed as actually kept in the Monterey deep water exhibit can locally be found shallower than 100 m/330 ft (yes they can also be found deeper but they're not restricted to deeper regions). That means that truly abysical species like pelican eel and tripod fish are still out of reach for anyone because they are only found deeper. I believe that today few can match the deep water collections found in some Japanese aquariums. I mentioned this Japanese blog before and it is good for some of the strange things that turn up in Japanese aquariums. It is how I first became aware of Thyrsitoides marleyi, Antigonia capros and Trichiurus lepturus in Japanese aquariums (all mainly deepwater but locally shallower). Google translate is semi-acceptable for Japanese but in most cases you have to do the identifications yourself because Japanese fish name+google translate = nonsense.
I'm sure you know Monterey has had the broadnose sevengill for quite some time. It has also been kept elsewhere like Oregon Coast Aquarium. If caught in shallow water where they are sometimes found I can't think of any reason why the related sixgill or greenland should be hard to keep. Except you would need a HUGE coldwater aquarium to house a shark that reaches more than 5 m/16 ft and I don't believe any aquarium would be willing to spend that kind of money on an exhibit for those species. Just think of the bill for running the water chiller! edit: speaking of rarely kept deep water sharks. I recently saw a photo of Oxynotus japonicus in a Japanese aquarium. I don't remember the exact aquarium but I hope it will do better than the short life of Oxynotus centrina in Naples, the briefly kept Echinorhinus cookei in Monterey, or the briefly living Chlamydoselachus and Mitsukurina in Japanese aquariums. With these relatively big deep water fish there's the added problem that they often are caught by trawl and in itself that can damage them.
found it. At Izu-Mito Sea Paradise in deep water aquarium with longfinned bullseye (Cookeolus japonicus) and gold-birdled sandsmelt (Parapercis multifasciata). But was caught by trawl like the Oxynotus centrina in Naples and only survived for about 2 weeks Article about pressure tanks used at Monterey Bay Aquarium to acclimatise animals to normal pressure (more). At bottom of this page they shortly describe how they catch and acclimatise deep water animals in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. A photo from Monterey Bay Aquarium. The old deep water aquarium I think. Among the species on the photo the filetail catshark (Parmaturus xaniurus) is still kept in Oregon Coast Aquarium but not in a deep water tank. The spotted ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) is kept several places in USA (Shedd, Georgia, etc) and Japan in tanks only for deep water animals. I think the small dark fish circa in center of the Monterey photo is the very interesting pygmy shark (Euprotomicrus bispinatus). If so I believe they are the only to ever keep it. Other animals kept at several American aquariums in tanks aimed at deep water are rockfish, snipefish (see background in last Georgia photo), Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) and other spider crabs. The spidercrabs and snipefish are kept many places around the world. Cape elephantfish (Callorhinchus capensis) has been kept at Two Oceans Aquarium in South Africa but I don't know if it was in a deep ocean tank. Australian ghost shark (Callorhinchus milii) and Tasmanian giant crab (Pseudocarcinus gigas) are kept in tanks aimed at deep water in Melbourne Aquarium and probably elsewhere in Australia. The Tasmanian giant crab is also kept at Shedd in aquarium together with Japanese spider crab. Long list of some of the interesting deep water animals in Japanese aquariums. All species infrequently found shallower than 50 m/165 ft and often much, much deeper (like said in earlier post, truly abyssal is still out of reach for aquariums). The photos are from Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Takeshima Aquarium, Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Natural History, Sunshine International Aquarium, Kamogawa Sea World, Toba Aquarium, Enoshima Aquarium and Marine World Uminonakamichi. Most, if not all of these are kept in tanks that only house deep water animals and there are even more Japanese aquariums with deep water tanks. –SHARKS: Japanese sawshark (Pristiophorus japonicus), goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni). A small number of goblin sharks have been kept in Japanese aquariums but none have survived long. Smalltooth sand tiger (Odontaspis ferox). Deep water relative of famous grey nurse shark. Blotchy swell shark (Cephaloscyllium umbratile). Shortspine spurdog (Squalus mitsukurii). Japanese shortnose spurdog (Squalus brevirostris). Japanese spurdog (Squalus japonicus). Salamander shark (Parmaturus pilosus). Mandarin dogfish (Cirrhigaleus barbifer). –OTHER FISH: Eptatretus okinoseanus. A type of hagfish. Pacific barrelfish (Hyperoglyphe japonica). Japanese bluefish (Scombrops boops). Longtail red snapper (Etelis coruscans). Pale snapper (Etelis radiosus). Deep-water red snapper (Etelis carbunculus). Splendid alfonsino (Beryx splendens). Triacanthodes anomalus (photo 3), Synchiropus altivelis (last photo). Deep-water dragon (Bathydraco marri). Malthopsis annulifera. A type of seabat. Deepwater soldier (Ostichthys kaianus). Callanthias japonicus, horsehead tilefish (Branchiostegus japonicus), a type of bandfish (Cepola schlegeli). Chaunax abei. A kind of sea toad. Threetooth puffer (Triodon macropterus). Japanese rubyfish (Erythrocles schlegelii). Japanese big-eye (Pristigenys niphonia). Big roughy (Gephyroberyx japonicus). Helicolenus hilgendorfii. A kind of rockfish. Izu scorpionfish (Scorpaena neglecta). Golden redbait (Emmelichthys struhsakeri). Japanese codling (Physiculus japonicus). Japanese thread-sail fish (Hime japonica). Ornate jobfish (Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus, photo 1), Japanese snapper (Paracaesio caerulea, photo 2), crimson jobfish (Pristipomoides filamentosus, photo 3), lavender jobfish (Pristipomoides sieboldii, photo 4), Liopropoma (last). Liopropoma aragai and L. japonicum. Okhotsk snailfish (Liparis ochotensis). Japanese armorhead (Pentaceros japonicus). –CRUSTACEANS: Austinograea/Gandalfus yunohana. Crab from hydrothermal vents. Bathynomus doederleinii. One of several closely related similar species and I don't think most aquariums with giant isopods really know which one they have. But the ones in Japanese aquariums are probably caught locally and probably have correct identification because B. doederleinii is from northwest Pacific. Japanese golden crab (Chaceon granulatus). Pacific pincer lobster (Thaumastocheles japonicus). Smooth nylon shrimp (Heterocarpus laevigatus). Japanese furrow lobster (Justitia japonica). Humpback nylon shrimp (Heterocarpus gibbosus). Glyphocrangon hastacauda. Paralomis hystrix. Visitors to some American aquariums perhaps think they recognise it but that is confusion with the even longer spined Paralithodes californiensis and P. rathbuni. Japanese deepwater carrier crab (Paromola japonica). Japanese spear lobster (Linuparus trigonus).
Developements in this field are remarkably fast! Update in case people miss it: http://www.zoochat.com/113/deep-sea-exhibit-oceanopolis-259763/ Summary: Oceanopolis in Brest, France now has a small, 16 liter/4.25 gallon aquarium pressurized to 180 atmospheres, equalling a depth of 1800 m/6000 ft !! It is kept at a temperature of 10°C/50°F and a thin stream of water at 30°C/86°F mimics a hydrothermal vent. A complex system allows water change and feeding without changing the pressure. The two animals presently kept in the aquarium, the shrimp Mirocaris fortunata and the crab Segonzacia mesatlantica both originate from deep sea hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic. Other aquariums, mostly in Japan, also have tanks that mimic deep sea vents (both hydrothermal vents and cold vents) but as far as I know all use normal surface pressure unlike the Oceanopolis tank. Species kept in non-pressurized deep sea vent tanks include the crabs Gandalfus yunohana, Austinograea alayseae and A. rodriguezensis, the shimps Alvinocaris longirostris and Opaepele loihi, the squat lobsters Shinkaia crosnieri and Munidopsis myojinensis, the tubeworm Lamellibrachia satsuma, the clams Calyptogena okutanii, C. kawamutai, C. solidissima and C. soyoae, the mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus, and the fish Ericandersonia sagamia, Japonolycodes abei, an undescribed deep water eelpout, Lycodes cortezianus, Lycodapus mandibularis and Symphurus thermophilus. The last is a flatfish, the remaining fish are deep water eelpouts. Though some of these animals only survived for short periods, other have lived for long periods and a few even bred or attempted to breed. Several have been kept in public aquariums in Japan and some only in laboratories. But if laboratories can do it, a public aquarium should also be able to do it. These species all originate from depths of several hundred meters to more than 1500 m (about 1000-5000 ft). Though most have been taken directly from the depths to surface pressure and survived, it has caused problems in some groups, especially fish. A system that can maintain the animals at pressure and only slowly lower the pressure has now been developed. I guess it is similar to the system at Monterey Bay Aquarium mentioned in my last post. Some parts are a bit techinical but worth reading for people with an interest in non-pressurized deep sea vent tanks, article published 2 months ago: How to Keep Deep-Sea Animals Most of these developements are aimed at species from deep sea vents but some of the techniques would probably be useful for deep sea animals in general. If the pressure tank idea from Oceanopolis gains a foothold in the aquarium world, tripod fish, rattail, viperfish or pelican eel may not be as unlikely to happen in my lifetime as I once believed
condor: how likely do you think that this technology is will spread to other aquariums? Does it depend on how well it works in France? Do you think that aquariums really might display animals like the species you mention, dumbo octopus, etc. if this technology takes hold?
Small, heavily pressurized deep water tanks have been used before with various levels of success under laboratory conditions. I think its spread among public aquariums mainly depends on how many aquariums are willing to pay $$$ for an exhibit that has great potential from a scientific point of view, but most normal aquarium visitors probably would find average. Or perhaps even less interesting than a normal coral reef aquarium that could be made at a fraction of the prize. Much of this is obviously speculative: Deepwater tripod fish: A reasonable contender. Fairly small, inactive, have a relatively broad depth range (=they're not extremely specialized in depth) and found widely around the world (=a reasonable chance that an aquarium could get one, if they really made a serious effort with a sub). I suspect the primary issues would be the long fins and its carnivorous behavior. Capturing it without damaging the fins could be difficult. It probably can't be kept with larger fish that are too boisterous, as they would risk damanging the fins. Smaller animals could well appear like prey items to a tripod fish. That means you have a very expensive deep water aquarium with perhaps only one inhabitant. Rattail: Perhaps the best contender among the groups I mentioned. Medium sized and could probably live with other species seen with some regularity in deep water tanks (Japanese spider crab, small sharks, deep water rock fish, etc) without major problems. Have a very broad depth range, from a few hundred meters to several thousand meters, and occur in a wide range of habitats. Common to very common in most deep oceans around the world. The first fish seen on a deep water submarine dive is often a rattail. If I remember right Monterey Bay Aquarium attempted keeping rattail years ago but didn't succeed. The knowledge gained since then combined with a pressurized tank could be the tipping point. With the developements in recent years, I wouldn't even be all that surprised if a Japanese aquarium has a rattail in a few years time in a non-pressurized deep water tank. Unlike the other fish examples I have mentioned where I suspect a pressurized tank is a must. Viperfish: Less likely than the two above. Even more carnivorous than a tripod fish = very expensive deep water aquarium with perhaps only one inhabitant. Additionally, viperfish are more of an open water group = require a larger aquariums than a similar sized fish that spends most of its time on or near the bottom. Pelican eel: Least likely of the four I mentioned. Open water and very carnivorous behavior as in the viperfish. Unlike the three fish groups mentioned above sightings of the pelican eel are extremely rare. Based on catch data it isn't an exceptionally rare species but the usual techniques used by scientists to see living deep water creatures are evidently not suitable for this species. It is only quite recently that I saw the first photo of a living pelican eel (not the usual dark photos of museum specimens that are common). If scientists are struggling to get a photo of a living pelican eel, the chance of capturing one alive for an aquarium is tiny. In summary, good contenders would probably be: Relatively small or medium sized, found at a broad depth range, widespread and regularly seen on deep water submarine dives, not extremely carnivorous, and typically found on or near the ocean floor (benthic). Grimpoteuthis (or Opisthoteuthis?) was kept at Monterey Bay Aquarium in the 1990's and Opisthoteuthis has been kept at Enoshima Aquarium in Japan (backstage w. light switched on shortly, note isopod neighbours). Both Monterey Bay and Enoshima octopuses were kept under normal surface pressure, though I don't think the Monterey fared too well. The Monterey has apparently (?) still not received a formal scientific description and I have seen it listed both as Grimpoteuthis sp. and Opisthoteuthis sp. Most use the former genus (e.g. MBARI and Norman's book on cephalopods) but I'm not sure if anyone knows for certain where it belongs. So either a true Dumbo (Grimpoteuthis) or a close relative (Opisthoteuthis). It even laid eggs during its captive life in Monterey Bay Aquarium. In this group, the Monterey octopus is a "shallow" water species from around 300 m/1000 ft and deeper (about the same for the Enoshima Opisthoteuthis). Most true Dumbo octopuses are generally found well below 2000 m/6500 ft. Often much deeper than simulated in the Oceanopolis tank. This combined with the rarity of sightings make them some of the least likely deep water octopuses for aquariums. In general, invertebrates like octopuses and worms are far better at dealing with pressure changes than vertebrates like fish. Except for the ultra deep water speces, most deep water octopuses may even be possible in a deep water tank with normal surface pressure. One major problem is that most octopuses and squids have very short life spans, rarely more than 2 years. It has been suggested that the general failure to keep mimic octopus, a tropical shallow water species, hasn't really been a failure but its normal short life span. Of course it is possible that the virtually unknown deep water species live longer but I suspect not: Even the Humboldt squid, a very large species found in fairly deep waters, usually only lives for about 1 years. Getting a submarine to catch a Dumbo octopus from below 2000 m/6500 ft would be extremely expensive and you would need a lot of luck to get one on first attempt. Just imagine then realizing that it only has a few months left of its natural life
Thank u guys so much much for the updates. its a funny thing deep sea fish may not be as much of a average exhibit to people as u might thing; the weird and gross factor work in their favor. here in the usa disney channel has a show called "octonauts" that look at different marine animals each episode, they even have a little sing song creature report. I had to stop in my channel flipping. They did an episode on the deep sea blobfish they were trying to rescue from a vent/underwater volcano that was about to erupt. Not a bad show. 23 and with no kids just chillen and watching octonauts. o.0 I was entertained. Apparently they have done spook fish too, the fish with a transparent head also know as barreleye fish.
While a true deep sea exhibit would be very difficult to maintain, especially if your aquarium is not coastal, I am surprised that more aquariums don't offer a "deep sea" exhibit that features animals common to aquariums. Spider crabs, isopods, flashlight fish, nautilus... You could build an extremely exciting gallery with these animals that also talks about this incredible ecosystem. http://www.zoochat.com/1114/concept-art-new-living-planet-aquarium-268571/
