Beauty of the Sea

Posted by Shari Horowitz in Tropical Fish Hobbyist Blog on December 7, 2011 at 12:16 pm

Photo Credit: Wolcott Henry/National Geographic

Every time we look into a marine tank, we are instantly reminded of the beauty contained within our oceans. Beauty is, of course, one of the many reasons to keep a fish tank at all. So I guess it should not have come as a surprise to me, when I was looking at National Geographic’s Top Ten Nature Galleries of 2011, that six of the ten galleries were focused on aquatic life. Megafishes, Colossal Sea Creatures, Deep-Sea Creatures, Dangerous Sea Creatures, and Colorful Sea Creatures all topped the list.

Now, obviously huge fish and other giant sea creatures are inappropriate for tanks, and deep sea creatures are not collected for the aquarium trade, but both dangerous and colorful sea creatures are often kept. In fact sea anemones and surgeonfish were on both of those lists. They also included clownfish, moray eels, mantis shrimp, angelfish, and sea stars.

I think these lists can serve as a great reminder that not everyone is lucky enough to see the beauty contained within the oceans all the time, but many people are still interested in looking at them. Personally, that’s why I like to keep a display aquarium out where everyone can see it—it serves as an ambassador for the habitat it represents in an interactive, entertaining, and beautiful way.

Tags: anemones, clownfish, mantis shrimp, marine angelfish, marine life, moray eels, sea stars, surgeonfish, tangs