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Only 10% of Staten Island Ferry Fish Survived First Year
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 19, 2009
Modified Feb 19, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 19, 2009
Modified Feb 19, 2009
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Oh no: The Staten Island Advance reports on some sad news about the beautiful fish tanks in the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal: Apparently only 40 of the 400 tropical fish have survived since being introduced last year.
Over the past 12 months, most of the delicate fish have died; some became the lunch of aggressive tankmates, while others were stressed from people banging on the glass, aquarium experts said. Aquarists have said the fish were also stressed because the constant lighting in the bright terminal kept them from having a necessary restorative sleep cycle.
The die-off prompted the SIcoLab artists' group to stage a "Fish-In" protest over conditions at the tanks last summer. There was also talk of rigging up curtains to darken the tanks at night, to help reduce the algae and give the fish a break. The curtains never came.
Additionally, the fish tanks' lids were corroded by salt water, so new ones are being made and the remaining fish "will be scooped out and quarantined, with the possibility they could be introduced into other aquariums if they are compatible with the existing fish." A new population of fish will be introduced later, but a source told the Advance, "We're not going to jeopardize any more fish [until all the problems are fixed]."
Only two weeks into the fish tanks' introduction last year, some were worried about fish dying off. And there was some uproar over the tanks' $750,000 cost (not including the monthly maintenance) and their hypnotic quality.
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Staten Island Ferry Terminal
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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