Where do the Fish Come From?

The R/V Coral Reef II and Me.

 Ever wonder how aquariums get their fish? Last week I returned from a collecting trip with the New England Aquarium and found out exactly how many of the fish got in the Giant Ocean Tank. Twice a year, the NEAQ organizes a collecting trip. Aquarium staff and some volunteers meet on a research vessel called the R/V Coral Reef II and dive the reefs of the Bahamas to collect specific specimens needed for the Aquarium in Boston. The boat has specially equipped holding tanks and filtration systems to hold the fish until they are ready to be shipped to Boston. Catching the fish is done with vinyl nets while scuba diving.

Chalk Talk: a discussion before each dive reviewing
the goals of the dive and what to expect underwater..  

The Aquarium staff and the boat's Captain work together to determine the right dive sites for the specific fish they are looking for. Before each dive, all divers are briefed on the types of fish we should find.  Different strategies are used to collect different types of fish. Individual divers can capture some species while teams of divers are required to capture others.  The group made 3-5 dives a day and 3 night dives over the course of the 8 day trip.  In total, the team collected just under 400 fish and invertebrates.  It was a very successful mission. The last day of the trip - called pack day - started at 2:00am.  The boat docked at the Miami shipyard and the team aquarists and volunteers had to have the fish packed up in special shipping containers filled with fresh sea water and sprayed with pure oxygen by 7:00am to catch the commercial plane they were scheduled to fly on.  From there, a team of Aquarium staff awaited arrival of the shipment in Boston to quickly transfer the fish to a quarantine tank in Quincy. The fish will remain in quarantine for the next month and then will be placed in the GOT for all aquarium visitors to enjoy.

Packing the fish to Boston started at 2am and took 5 hours.  
It was a race against the clock to finish in time to catch the
cargo plane's departure.