: The evening crowd was unusually packed on the beach here on Sunday. For one thing, it was the last day before schools reopen after Onam vacation. Also, the city’s only public aquarium under the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) reopened after five years.
The queue that snaked into the ticket counter grew till it was 8 p.m. Those who decided against visiting the new spectacle for the aversion of being in the queue still hanged around gazing at the colourful water-fountain in the premises. Those who managed to get a ticket squeezed through the entrance that was crammed by visitors.
In more than 70 tanks, big and small, the aquarium has nearly 75 varieties of fresh-water and marine fishes. The former ones are from a private farm while the sea water fishes are collected directly from the local fishermen, said Sunny Chemmachel of Chemmachel Aquariums, which runs the show on lease from DTPC. “All the nearly 10 varieties of marine fishes are from the sea in and around Kozhikode,” said Mr. Sunny.
The freshwater varieties included most of the captivating array of fishes such as alligator gar, piranha, red tail catfish and arapaima, which is native to the Amazon river basin and one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. The saline water fishes included stingrays and butterfly angel besides lobsters. “Special attention is taken to keep the fishes in their natural environment,” said Mr. Sunny. The PH control, biological filtration of water and temperature control, all played a key role in their maintenance, he added.
