Big fish in a little tank thrives at Sea World
IT’S a fish-eat-fish world.
So aquarium owner Lloyd Mackay discovered when he placed a 4cm fish he had caught in a rock pool at Mgazana in the Eastern Cape into his tank.
In a year, it grew to 30cm and gobbled up all the other fish in his aquarium.
Word of the growing sea creature reached uShaka Sea World when Mackay offered the fish to volunteer Ewan Duncan.
“A description soon identified it as a juvenile brindle bass and arrangements were made for one of our scientists, Bruce Mann, to collect the fish, now also named Lloyd, in January 2006,” the SA Association for Marine Biological Research, based at uShaka Sea World, said in a Facebook post.
“In December 2007, Lloyd moved from the Turtle Lagoon Exhibit to the Rocky Reef Exhibit in the uShaka Sea World aquarium, weighing 13.7kg and measuring 84cm.
“In January 2011, his length was estimated at 108cm. On November 26, 2014, he was moved to the Ship Shark exhibit, weighing 48kg and measuring 121cm.”
Last weekend, Mackay visited uShaka Sea World to see his old friend and namesake for a selfie. He was happy to hear it was doing well and contributing morphometric data to marine science.
“Lloyd the brindle bass is a protected species and has been microchipped. He has and will continue to inspire guests and enable conversations about the need for regulations and Marine Protected Areas to protect slow-growing species from overfishing,” read the post.
“From 4cm to 121cm in nine years, and a lot more room for growth, Lloyd has a great story as an individual fish but an equally important story for science.”