Oct. 20, 1984: An Aquarium for the Ages Opens

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Oct. 20, 1984: An Aquarium for the Ages Opens

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1984: The Monterey Bay Aquarium opens in California.

The aquarium occupies the site of an old sardine cannery at the edge of Monterey Bay, one of the most fertile and diverse marine environments on earth. That diversity inspired the idea of devoting the

aquarium solely to the rich marine life indigenous to its own stretch of the Pacific coast. (However, a few concessions have been made to geography over the years: A colony of South African blackfooted penguins is currently in residence, for example.)

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was in the vanguard of the new generation of aquariums emphasizing conservation, education and research as much as exhibition space. It was the brainchild of four marine biologists from Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station in nearby Pacific Grove.

The aquarium’s original building, designed by a San Francisco architectural firm, was made to resemble the old Hovden Cannery that once occupied the spot. David Packard (yes, that David Packard) got the ball rolling by throwing in a spare $55 million (about $125 million in today’s money) to cover construction and startup costs.

A new wing was added later, housing the Outer Bay Waters exhibit that focuses on the open-ocean environment. Other popular exhibits include the kelp forest, the sea otters and the visually arresting Jellies, which was such a hit that other aquariums have since copied Monterey.

The aquarium pumps water directly from Monterey Bay — at a rate of 2,000 gallons per minute — to feed more than a hundred exhibit tanks. The water is filtered during the day to keep the tanks clear for viewing, but at night raw sea water, rich in plankton and other nutrients, is pumped through the exhibits.

Through its sister institution, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the aquarium conducts marine-science research projects, including ongoing conservation efforts involving sea otters and tuna.

If he were alive today, John Steinbeck would be appalled by the tourist-trap tawdriness that characterizes most of Monterey’s historic Cannery Row. But Steinbeck and his old buddy, Doc Ricketts, would have loved the aquarium. It’s real, for one thing.

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Photo: A family gets a close-up look at an undersea kelp forest at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Jon Snyder/Wired.com

This article first appeared on Wired.com Oct. 20, 2008.

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