A New Aquarium for the National Museums & Galleries
on Merseyside at Liverpool Museum
Un nouvel Aquarium au Muséum de Liverpool pour
les National Museums & Galleries à Merseyside
Denis MURPHY
Liverpool Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN, England
ABSTRACT
A new 550 square meters public aquarium is under construction at Liverpool
Museum. It continues a highly successful 144-year tradition of living displays at the
Museum. For the first time, a hands-on interactive area -The Living Laboratory- will be
created. It will be equipped with specialized demonstration aquaria, video microscopes
and remote operated cameras behind the scenes. Live and pre-recorded footage will
cover subjects of local, national and international importance. Visitors of all ages and
abilities will be given an opportunity to ask questions of trained demonstrators and
learn about temperate and tropical aquatic life. Off display, computerized life-support
systems centralized in three zones, will maintain the highest quality water throughout.
The new aquarium will be open in August, 2002.
RÉSUMÉ
Un nouvel Aquarium public d'une superficie de 550 mètres carrés est en
construction au Musée de Liverpool. Cet Aquarium perpétue la tradition établie depuis
maintenant 144 ans des expositions vivantes au Musée. Pour la première fois, une zone
interactive -Le Laboratoire Vivant- sera introduite. Cette zone sera équipée
d'aquariums spécialisés, de vidéos microscopes, et des caméras télécommandées seront
installées dans les coulisses. Des extraits en direct et enregistrés permettront d’illustrer
des sujets locaux, nationaux et internationaux. Tous les visiteurs auront la possibilité
de questionner des animateurs formés au préalable et ils pourront tout apprendre sur la
vie aquatique tempérée et tropicale. Dans les coulisses, des systèmes de maintenance,
centralisés dans trois zones, assureront une haute qualité d’eau dans tous les aquariums.
Le nouvel Aquarium sera ouvert en août 2002.
Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique, Monaco, n° spécial 20, fascicule 2 (2001)
In 1857, the Liverpool Museum first displayed living fish and invertebrates in
small vessels. At the time it was recorded that marine and freshwater aquaria
containing exotic species had been established and had become extremely
popular with visitors. A 15% increase in visitor numbers attributed solely to the
new displays was noted and in so doing the Curator was, perhaps for the first
time, recording just how effective living displays were in attracting, educating
and entertaining visitors to the Museum.
The Liverpool Museum has housed a public aquarium since 1861, when it
was heralded as a significant and highly popular attraction. We are proud that
this has continued to the present day and it is intended that the new 550 square
meters aquarium currently under construction will build on the Museum's long
history of aquarium development as a core educational resource and public
display.
The new aquarium gallery is first approached either by staircase or twin glass
lifts within a spectacular glazed atrium. Visitors then pass through an access
gallery featuring a large cylindrical display tank of shoaling South American
river fish before entering the aquarium. The main aquarium display gallery
extends to approximately 250 square meters and is accessible to visitors from
opposite ends through circular entry nodes. The wall of each node will be
furnished with colourful murals. Dappled lighting and sound effects will help to
set the scene and create an ambience compatible with the aquatic displays.
The north entry node mural will depict, in stylized form, the tropical seas,
coral reefs and mangroves typical of the Indo Pacific and will include images
and text giving information on some of the fish and invertebrates to be found
there. From there, visitors will enter a brightly lit area of warm water displays
with a total circulating volume of 30,000 liters, featuring coral reef, coral lagoon
and mangrove biotopes. Themes here will focus principally on the diversity of
reefs, feeding strategies and adaptive relationships between fish and
invertebrates and the lives of some remarkable mangrove dwellers such as
mudskippers.
The south entry node mural will depict in a lifelike form the topography of a
typical local rocky coast and sandy estuary, and will include images and
information on some native fish and invertebrates.
Before entering the temperate display area, visitors will see two large
backlight panels dealing with Creatures of the Abyss. The first explains the
importance of Plankton and includes colorful images showing the wonderful
complexity of these "simple" organisms. The second deals with fish and other
creatures found at great depths and explains how they adapt to survive extreme
conditions.
Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique, Monaco, n° spécial 20, fascicule 2 (2001)
Visitors will then arrive in the temperate marine zone, an area devoted to
cooled water displays with a total circulating volume of 25,000 liters,
showcasing some of the surprising variety of fish and invertebrates to be found
in our local waters. Displays will include habitat reconstructions of the rocky
coast of the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales and the sandy, muddy estuary of the
River Dee, which flows into Liverpool Bay.
Between each of the principal displays will be 500-liters support aquaria in
which small or delicate species such as squid, octopus, pipefish, etc., will be
housed. These displays will be changed from time to time to reflect captive
breeding research or seasonal variation.
At the heart of the gallery and occupying approximately 135 square meters,
will be an interactive area - The Living Laboratory. Here, visitors, school
groups, and those with special needs will be given a unique opportunity within
the Museum to examine in close-up, and in suitable cases even handle living
marine creatures. Specially trained demonstrator staff will be on hand to advise
visitors, answer questions and explain about the lives of all of the creatures
displayed.
The Living Laboratory will be fitted out with seven 1m wide wedge-shaped
demonstration aquaria. These will contain species safe to handle and which are
best suited to the more restricted conditions than prevail in the much larger
displays elsewhere. Because they are easily accessible the wedge displays will
be changed frequently with new specimens being drawn from behind the scenes
in rotation. In this way a greater number of different species will have been
interpreted to our visitors each year than would otherwise have been possible.
Set between the wedge tanks there will be a number of demonstration
benches. Some will be used to display and interpret rarely seen preserved
museum specimens on temporary loan from the vast collections of the Zoology
and Botany departments. Here visitors will learn the importance of historical and
current research and the contribution made to our understanding of modern
science.
Three demo benches will be fitted with shallow wet basins, each will be
connected to flowing water from an appropriate life-support system and house
numbers of small invertebrates and seaweed. Under supervision, visitors will be
encouraged to handle suitable specimens and examine them more closely using
hand lenses and binocular microscopes. Starfish, crustaceans, mollusks,
seaweeds and common strand-line objects from the beach will feature regularly
here.
Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique, Monaco, n° spécial 20, fascicule 2 (2001)
A video camera mounted on a microscope will also be available to help
visitors observe more easily the lives of very small organisms. Live images will
be transmitted from the video microscope to a large screen within the Living
Laboratory, thus greatly increasing audience access to events as they happen on
the demo benches.
Remote cameras placed strategically behind the scenes, will give visitors an
insight into some of the work in progress via images projected live onto a Living
Laboratory screen. In this way visitors will see current projects in fish treatment
and quarantine rooms, and get a view of the impressive array of centralized lifesupport water pumps, filters, sterilizers and treatment plant needed to provide
and maintain the very high standard of animal husbandry maintained throughout
the displays.
Alongside the demo benches a fully equipped podium and control center will
aid communication between staff and visitors, and facilitate the control and
coordination of all multi-media activities including recorded or live video
footage from the Museum's InfoWorld theatre, other departments and national
and international locations.
The fluid lines of the display and demonstration areas, together with an
imaginative fit-out, will give visitors a sense of being part of the aquatic world.
Links between the living specimens, the environment and the historic collections
of spirit preserved fish and invertebrates will be emphasized and their
contribution to the understanding of biodiversity communicated. The gallery will
be more than a simple display of fish, but will use a range of interpretative
techniques to highlight important issues especially relating to fragile marine and
freshwater ecosystems and the need to conserve them.
Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique, Monaco, n° spécial 20, fascicule 2 (2001)
Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique, Monaco, n° spécial 20, fascicule 2 (2001)