TREASURE-HOUSE OF THE GULF STREAM 



59 



and uncontaminated salt water itself be 

 transported from miles out in the ocean 

 to the tanks of the city aquariums in the 

 north, but the water must be kept heated 

 the year round to the proper temperature 

 of their southern habitat. 



More fortunate is the Miami Aquari- 

 um, which is located within a few hun- 

 dred yards of the outlet of Biscayne Bay 

 into the old Atlantic ; for it has salt water 

 from the Gulf Stream itself available for 

 changing in the tanks at every turn of 

 tide, if necessary, and there is no neces- 

 sity for artificial heating all year around, 

 as the water is never below 63 ° F. in 

 winter nor above 85 ° F. in summer. 



THE: MIAMI AQUARIUM HAS EXCEPTIONAL 

 EQUIPMENT 



The Miami Aquarium is equipped with 

 fifty exhibition tanks, each with a visible 

 area of 4 x 6 feet. One of the glass- 

 front tanks is 36 feet long, 15 feet in 

 width, and 10 feet deep — probably the 

 largest display tank in the world. In it 

 may be shown fish up to 12 feet in 

 length. The exhibition tanks are ar- 

 ranged along corridors, in the general 

 form of a Maltese cross, with a central 

 rotunda. 



The only light is that admitted from 

 skylight openings directly over each ex- 

 hibition chamber, so that the sun's rays 

 filtering through the waters of the tanks 

 give the interior of the aquarium the 

 atmosphere of the ocean bottom itself, 

 and the multihued and wonderfully beau- 

 tiful fish citizens of the tropics stand 

 out in their regal colors and without 

 the optical distortion which arises from 

 artificial illumination against glass. To 

 further create the atmosphere of the 

 natural habitat of these fish, the tanks 

 are lined with coral rock and festooned 

 with living specimens of the wondrous 

 flora of the ocean bed. 



This plant life also is needful to make 

 the captured specimens feel at home in 

 their new environment, and, with such 

 peaceful and customary surroundings, 

 most of them soon become domesticated 

 and seemingly unaffected by their trans- 

 planting. Indeed, they are relieved of 

 the burden of the high cost of living and 

 are even willing to give up their pursuit 

 of prey, since their natural food is sup- 

 plied at regular intervals. 



Most people who live far from the sub- 

 tropic seas, especially those in inland 

 America, have little conception of the 

 wondrous beauty of the colored fish of 

 our southern waters. 



FISH TINTS THAT CHALLENGE THE 

 RAINBOW 



Elsewhere in this number will be found 

 a series of four-color reproductions of 

 life portraits of some of the more com- 

 mon of these richly colored specimens. 

 These studies (see Plates I to VIII, 

 pages 61 to 68) were made by a noted 

 artist, who watched the fish within the 

 tanks of the aquarium day in and day 

 out, studied their color phases, and the 

 ability of many of them to change their 

 tints and hues, as does the chameleon, 

 until he was able to transfer a suggestion 

 of their rainbow coloring to the canvas. 



To the student of ichthyology, the com- 

 pletion and opening of the Miami Aqua- 

 rium early in January, 1921, will be an 

 occasion of moment, for this station is 

 the only one of any size on the entire 

 South Atlantic seaboard, and is located 

 but twelve miles from the axis of the 

 Gulf Stream. 5 ' 1 The Biological Labora- 

 tory, equipped with tables for individual 

 or class use, offers opportunity for the 

 scientist and student to pursue these en- 

 grossing studies with every convenience 

 of supply and equipment and with their 

 study subjects ever available under most 

 favorable conditions. The institution will 

 specialize in the investigation of the mi- 

 gration of food-fish and the artificial 

 cultivation of the spiny lobsters, stone 

 crabs, et cetera. 



Instead of having to go to the great 

 Italian station at Naples, or the Museum 

 of Oceanography at Monaco, students of 

 fish life will be offered the facilities out- 

 lined, in their own country, for our own 

 subtropic waters have all that the Medi- 

 terranean affords and much besides. 



THE PERSONNEL OF THE AQUARIUM 



The director of the Miami Aquarium, 

 Mr. L. L. Mowbray, has acquired an ex- 

 tensive knowledge of warm-sea fish in 

 studies extending over many years. He 



*See "The Grandest and Most Might}" Ter- 

 restrial Phenomenon : The Gulf Stream," by 

 Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury. in the Na- 

 tional GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for August, igu. 



