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 and the drumfish.

The fish drum (Capro Saper) 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.

Poor is good

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

The term "poor fish" refers to those species not considered by the market, but of great nutritional value and sustainable for the environment.

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 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.

This gallery there is also a bath dedicated to invertebrates, the coralligenic environment of the Mediterranean Sea. These are gorgines 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 on the walls, in colonies made up of single units (polyps), and are usual eating plankton transported by the currents. In the tub with them the wonderful longspine Snipefish (Macroramphosus scolopax) and the Boar fish (Capros aper), species of depth from the unusual form.

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Kelp - New 2019

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The flying fishes