This blog post was written by Public Relations intern Joseph Brakus
Humans are not the only ones who have to move to another location from time to time. When a marine animal starts to outgrow its exhibit Tamra Galvan, the Facilities Director at Feiro has to move the animals to a new home.
Recently Tamara has moved the Copper Rockfish, juvenile Kelp Greenling and juvenile White Spotted Greenling to a larger exhibit. Currently, these fish are separated from the other tankmates by a “Howdy Fence”. This allows the fish to have time to become acquainted with each other and gives the smaller fish time to grow bigger.
Moving the animals varies depending on their growth rate and what other animals Feiro has in their exhibits at the time. For example, they have a Pygmy Poacher who will never outgrow the Eelgrass exhibit and therefore will never need to be transferred. Feiro has another rockfish whose growth rate is much slower. While the Copper Rockfish is ready to move, it will likely be another couple of years before the other rockfish is ready.
This is the third exhibit these fish have been at in Feiro. They were initially so small they were first added to the Eelgrass exhibit. This exhibit houses the marine plant Eelgrass and is home for critters such as pipefish, tadpole sculpin, Pygmy poacher, silver spotted sculpin, and the grunt sculpin.
Feiro collected the Copper Rockfish in July 2021. Initially, due to its small size no one initially knew what species of Rockfish it was. By April 2022, the markings were clear it was a Copper Rockfish.
You can see these fish and more during public hours. Feiro’s exhibits are open for the winter season 12pm-4pm Thursdays – Mondays. Holiday hours, events and programs are found at https://feiromarinelifecenter.org/old2017/inspire
