THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s not just tigers and lions and birds at the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo anymore. On Thursday, the zoo will open an aquarium intended to give visitors an insight into the waterworld. A joint project involving the Directorate of Museums and Zoos and the Kerala State Co-operative Federation for Fisheries Development Ltd (Matsyafed), the aquarium will feature both freshwater and marine fish. Matsyafed director P Kesavan Nair said.
‘’The aquarium will have 14 tanks, two of which will be wall-hangings, plasma aquariums which are still rare in the State. Nine of the tanks will house freshwater varieties and the rest will have marine species,’’ Kesavan Nair said. The aquarium, which has been set up at the old Reptile House of the Zoo, will have gold fish, gourami and sword-tails, among others.
A big attraction of the aquarium, which has been set up at a cost of ` 33 lakh, will be the Malawi Cichlid, whose tank will have models of rocks found in Africa’s Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa), according to the Matsyafed. Education Minister M A Baby will inaugurate the aquarium at 8.30 am on Thursday.
Matsyafed had tied up with the Kottayam municipality to set up a similar aquarium there. A third one will be opened at Vaikom shortly. Matsyafed is also planning to train people to make and care for aquariums, with ornamental fish business witnessing a boom. In the first phase, 100 people will be trained. The target is 300, according to Matsyafed officials.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com