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THE 



AQUARIUM 



^ 



The Detroit Aquarium 



By RICHARD J. CONWAY. 

 Director of the Aquarium. 



This aquarium is located on Belle 

 Isle, a beautiful park situated in the 

 Detroit River, connected with the city 

 by a bridge. A regular auto-bus line 

 runs every day in the year from the city 

 to the aquarium, a distance of one and 

 one-quarter miles. During the summer 

 months a line of ferry boats furnishes 

 an additional means of access. 



The building 

 is two hundred 

 and sixty feet 

 long and seven- 

 ty-two feet wide; 

 the grotto con- 

 tains forty-four 

 wall tanks, three 

 large pools and 

 three floor tanks. 

 Twenty - two of 

 the wall tanks 

 are used for mar- 

 ine specimens; 

 the pools are 

 used for large 

 fishes and har- 

 bor seal ; the re- 

 maining wall 

 tanks are used for fresh water specimens. 



The fresh water supply is received 

 from the city water works. The salt water 

 used here was brought from the Atlantic 

 Ocean about nine years ago, and has 

 been in constant use since that time. 

 The only addition to this supply is that 

 which occurs when marine collections 

 are made, when the water in which 

 they are transported is filtered, and then 

 put into a reservoir for use when needed. 



A small fish hatchery is in operation 

 to show the methods used in hatching 



(.".R( )TT( )— AULARI IM 



trout and white-fish eggs, also for hatch- 

 ing, for exhibition purposes, such trout 

 and other eggs as are not found in our 

 locality. Through the operation of this 

 hatchery, species of trout not found in 

 the waters of our state have been in- 

 troduced. 



The fish exhibited are collected from 

 the many locahties. Most of the fresh 

 water fish are brought from the Great 

 Lakes, inland lakes and their tributaries. 

 The salt water species are collected along 

 the Atlantic 

 coast, from 

 Maine to Ber- 

 muda. Many of 

 the Bermuda 

 fish are especial- 

 ly beautiful. We 

 have in our ex- 

 hibit some speci- 

 mens that have 

 been in aquaria 

 tanks contain- 

 ing about four 

 hundred gallons 

 o f water for 

 eight years, and 

 as yet have not 

 shown any signs 

 of distress. They 

 appear to be contented, feed regularly, 

 and have increased in size and weight 

 more than four hundred per cent. This 

 species is the Golden Ide (Idus idus). 



Other specimens that have been kept 

 in the tanks for seven years, such as the 

 Muskellunge, do not show much increase 

 in either size or weight. Data were kept 

 of the amount of live food consumed by 

 one of these specimens weighing seven- 

 teen pounds, and it was found to be sat- 

 isfied with one and one-half pounds of 

 food per week during the summer 



