18 Jul: The first Aquariums: cool things I learnt today

marmitelover2000

Thanks to @Albus_Scope for the suggestion!

Aquariums: Where humans can stare at fish from behind glass and fish can stare at humans from behind glass.

So when were they invented?

Buckle in, get your reading glasses, cuppa tea and emotional support bear; This is going to be a long one.

Interestingly The first aquariums ( like a lot of things) actually dated back to the stone age/ neolithic.

So lets revisit our favorite island up in the sunny scottish isles Skara Brae ( Not a beach boys song)

The Neolithic people had something in common with 5 star restaurants, keeping soon to be food in tanks to keep them fresh.

Unfortunately it was very unlikely that it was lobster or king crab but limpets and snails often used as bait for catching bigger fish. Sorry to all of our french friends who think that snails are indeed a delicacy.

And because it was the stone age, the tanks were made out of………

Carved 🌟Stone 🌟 ( I'm sorry but If you didn't guess that one correctly, I don't know how to help)

So what about aquariums as we know them now? (glass box things)

Funny enough it was actually first believed to be invented by the french born marine biologist back in 1832

( cue bad french accent )

Khm Khm.. Her name was Jeanne Villepreux-Power🧐🥖🥐 (no relation to international superspy Austen powers )

The used it for research purposes. And lead to groundbreaking discoveries like Argonauts (kind of octopus alien thing) produce their own shell.

The first public aquarium opened in london zoo around 20 years later (1853). It was imaginatively called the Fish house.

They realised that fish need oxygen to stay alive and like us produce carbon dioxide ( although when dissolved in water it makes carbonic acid)

Luckily for them ( and the fish) plants produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the water.

Plants were used as a filtering system although this practice was difficult and homeostasis was almost impossible to reach it was good enough!

The Guy who put it all together thought the name aquatic vivarium ( an accurate description of what it was) was awkward and uncouth so decided to call it an aquarium, smushing 2 words together to make a new one which is called a portmanteau ( you can impress all of your friends and family with this word)

Thus the aquarium as we understand it was born.

Albus_Scope

Excellent stuff there @marmitelover2000 I love it!

Extra bit of info related to ye olde aquariums;
The very fabulous nautilus (argonauts are also known as the paper nautilus) also is a great example of the Fibonacci sequence.

marmitelover2000

That's fascinating!

The fibonacci sequence is a beautiful example of the complexity of our universe!

Rosie_Scope

Oooh very interesting @marmitelover2000, thanks for sharing!