Monterey Bay Aquarium - Cleaning and fixing up the fish tank is never much fun. In what may be the mother of all fish tank spring cleaning projects, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is putting the final touches on the overhaul of its Outer Bay tank - a 1 million gallon structure that holds more water than the other 90 tanks in the aquarium combined and ranks among the largest tanks in the United States.
The exhibit, rechristened "the Open Sea," features new species in the big tank and other nearby displays, including a sand bar shark from Oahu, tufted puffins and other seabirds, a high-tech interactive video wall display on plankton, deep sea jellies and numerous art installations.
The aquarium closed the big tank to the public last August. "The green sea turtles were eating the tiles," said aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson. The tank needed an upgrade anyway, aquarium managers thought. So they drained all the water out into the ocean. But not before catching the roughly 10,000 species in the tank first. Aquarium biologists used a specially designed net to catch the 9,000 sardines. The three dozen tuna, they caught with fishing line and barbless hooks. One hammerhead shark also died. "Before, it was like an exhibit tank."
The new species at the aquarium include yellowfin and bluefin tuna, brown shark (sandbar shark), ocean sunfish (Mola mola), puffins (Parrots of the sea), green sea turtles, great white shark and more
