The Mediterranean Gallery

Aquarium

The visit continues towards a gallery which, through a series of tanks, reproduces the rocky coast of the Ligurian-Tyrrhenian coast: an environment full of life and light and with extreme environmental conditions due to wave motion.

Guests of these tanks are species such as the common damselfish and the red damselfish, tomatoes and sea urchins. In a large tank dedicated to burrowing animals, visitors can admire the dusky grouper swimming together with specimens of Mediterranean moray eels. In this gallery there is also a tank dedicated to invertebrates of the coral environment of the Mediterranean Sea. These are gorgonians belonging to the genus Paramuricea and Eunicella.

These specimens, often confused with plants, are real animals belonging to the group of coelenterates (jellyfish and corals).

They live attached to the walls, in colonies made up of single units (polyps), and usually feed on plankton carried by the currents. In the tank with them the wonderful trumpet fish (Macroramphosus scolopax) and the drumfish (Capros aper), a deep-sea species with an unusual shape, ironically defining this tank as the "Orchestra of the sea". Furthermore, in this section, it is possible to admire the tanks dedicated to the precious posidonia and the tank dedicated to the "poor fish".

The orchestra of the sea

Like a joge, this tank is home to some specimens belonging to the species that usually live in the dark depths of our sea, where the light becomes dim and the water pressure is several kg / cm2.

In this extreme environment for humans, live the trumpet fish (Capros aper) and the drumfish (Macroramphosus scolopax).

The fish drum (Capros aper) is the only species that belongs to the family of the Caproids. It lives on muddy bottoms up to 600 meters deep. The orange color is probably due to the diet which is mostly made up of small depth shrimps.

The trumpet fish (Macroramphosus scolopax) takes its name from the particular shape of the mouth that stretches like a trumpet for about 1/3 of its body.

The little cat shark tank

The sustainability of marine resources depends on consumer choices: some fish stocks are collapsing now because they are over-exploited.

The salpa for example (Sarpa salpa) - which swims in this tank - is an animal with herbivorous habits that lives in large shoals on rocky bottoms and in areas with a rich growth of algae. It is precisely considered by the market as a "poor fish", actually in recent years rediscovered for its good nutritional value and environmental sustainability.

The little shark cat (Scyrhinus canicula) - the star of this tank - is part of the elasmobranchs the family with currently the species most at risk of extinction. This specimen falls within the scope of the project LIFE European Sharks, of which Acquario di Livorno is partner.

The Posidonia

In the Mediterranean gallery visitors will find a tank that reproduces a small posidonia (Posidonia oceanica), a marine plant typical of the Mediterranean Sea with an essential ecological role for the protection and stabilization of the coasts from the activity of sea erosion.

Its long sheets slow down the wave motion; its branched roots instead consolidate the seabed. It also acts as a nursery, hosting different species for reproduction and offers shelter from predators to many species in the juvenile state.

Guests of these basins are species such as, the Damselfish and the Swallowtail seaperch, tomatoes and sea urchins. In a large pool dedicated to ana animals, visitors can admire the brown grouper that swims along with specimens of Mediterranean moray.

Finally, suddenly in the middle of the Mediterranean tanks, here appears the tank of the seahorses panciu
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The belly seahorses

It is one of the largest species of seahorse in the world, with a length of up to 35 cm; it lives in the temperate waters of Australia and New Zealand, preferably in seabeds that do not exceed 50 meters in depth, where there are meadows of phanerogams or of rather tall macroalgae, to which it clings while waiting for prey to arrive.

It feeds essentially on small planktonic crustaceans, mysids, or krill, which it catches with its long snout rather quickly and with great accuracy. The name comes from the size of the abdomen, very pronounced in both females and males, in which, during courtship, it is inflated like a balloon to attract the female to lay her eggs in it. It is the male's task to incubate the fertilized eggs until the complete development of the fry, which will be expelled outside after a month following long and repeated contractions, until the pouch is completely emptied.

In this tank they love to camouflage and hide, so to see them it is necessary to sharpen your eyesight!

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Kelp - New 2019

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The flying fishes