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The Aquarium 



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Volume I 



FEBRUARY, 1913 



Number 9 



JJ 



The New York Aquarium. 



JOHN TREADWELL NICHOLS, New York. 



THE New York Aquarium, at the 

 southern extremity of Manhattan 

 Island, looking out across the harbor, 

 was originally built as a fort with walls 

 eight feet thick, and within the narrow 

 compass of these walls it has been 

 difficult to arrange the proper tanks, 

 piping, etc., for a big pubHc aquarium. 

 The building has been open as a public 

 aquarium since 1896, and in 1902 came 

 under the management of the New York 

 Zoological Society. Since 1902, Dr. 

 Charles H. Townsend has been director, 

 and there have been many changes 

 made, — notable improvements in light- 

 ing and ventilation, and the introduction 

 of a large storage tank for pure sea 

 water, as the impure, somewhat brackish 

 harbor water, pvimped through a well, 

 was unfit for many of the fishes. 



The aquatic animals in the Aquarium 

 are shown to the public in several large 

 pools in the floor of the building, the 

 largest thirty-eight feet in diameter, and 

 in glass-fronted wall tanks, the largest 

 seven and one half feet across. There is 

 also a gallery where smaller wall tanks are 

 shown. By means of a steam plant, the 

 water is warmed to satisfy the tropical 

 fishes in winter, or cooled to be right 

 for the northern species in summer. 

 Under the building is a reservoir for 

 pure sea water which has been brought 

 from outside the harbor. This is pumped 

 to the exhibition tanks and thence falls 

 through sand filters back to the reser- 

 voir. Brackish water for the large floor 

 pools is pumped from the bay through 



a well under the building. The pumps 

 run day and night, and there is an 

 emergency pump to connect with either 

 harbor or storage system when one of 

 the regular ones is out of order. Flowing 

 fresh water is from the city's water 

 system, and an air compressor furnishes 

 extra aeration wherever necessary. 

 Supply pipes to the tanks are of vul- 

 canized rubber, and drainage pipes to 

 the salt water reservoir of iron, lead 

 lined. 



The tanks are about equally divided 

 between fresh and salt water. The fresh 

 water food and game fish — trout, white- 

 fish, bass, pickerel, m u s k a 1 1 u n g e are 

 always on exhibition. Through co- 

 operation with state and national fish 

 hatcheries, the Aquarium is able to 

 show the commercial methods of hatch- 

 ing certain fishes, as well as the growth 

 of their young. Eggs are obtained free, 

 and in return the fish raised from them 

 later planted in various waters. Par- 

 ticular success has been obtained in 

 hatching whitefish eggs in automatic 

 glass hatching jars and rearing the fry 

 by feeding them mosquito larvae. 

 Through the top of such a hatching jar, 

 two elass tubes enter — one, for the 

 supply of running water, extends almost 

 to the bottom of the jar, the other, for 

 outlet, reaches only a short distance 

 below its mouth. The semi-bouyant 

 eggs are continually rolled over each 

 other by the current of water, and a 

 circulation in the egg mass is set up, up 

 along the outside of the jar and down in 

 the center. Thus each egg comes in 

 turn to the top. Any dead eggs, because 



