A welcome dive into the world of aquarium craft that offers
much-needed knowledge about undersea environments.
Atlantic coral is rapidly disappearing in the wild. To save the species,
they will have to be reproduced quickly in captivity, and so for the
last decade conservationists have been at work trying to preserve their
lingering numbers and figure out how to rebuild once-thriving coral
reefs from a few survivors. Captive environments, built in dedicated
aquariums, offer some hope for these corals. This book examines these
specialized tanks, charting the development of tank craft throughout the
twentieth century to better understand how aquarium modeling has
enhanced our knowledge of the marine environment.
Aquariums are essential to the way we understand the ocean. Used to
investigate an array of scientific questions, from animal behavior to
cancer research and climate change, they are a crucial factor in the
fight to mitigate the climate disaster already threatening our seas. To
understand the historical development of this scientific tool and the
groups that have contributed to our knowledge about the ocean, Samantha
Muka takes up specialty systems--including photographic aquariums,
kriesel tanks (for jellyfish), and hatching systems--to examine the
creation of ocean simulations and their effect on our interactions with
underwater life. Lively and engaging, Oceans under Glass offers a
fresh history about how the aquarium has been used in modern marine
biology and how integral it is to knowing the marine world.
