February 1, 2016 — WOODS HOLE, Mass. — The cart of food wouldn’t look totally out of place at an upscale sushi restaurant: capelin and herring, both whole and neatly chopped, mysis shrimp and cubes of gelatin packed with ground fish, broccoli, carrots and spinach.
But these restaurant-grade meals aren’t for fine dining; they’re for the fish and other marine animals that call the Woods Hole Science Aquarium home.
The free aquarium is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service and is open five days a week. But fish need to eat even on weekends or federal holidays. So every morning, usually before the doors open at 11 a.m., one of the three staff members or five regular volunteers comes to dole out a specific mix of edibles to the critters in each tank, clean the tanks or perform other behind-the-scenes maintenance at the nation’s oldest public aquarium at 166 Water St.
Alison Brodet, a marine biologist who volunteers at the aquarium once a week, briefly conferred with senior biologist Kristy Owen about the morning’s feeding. Some usually ravenous fish were being slower to the food today, but Owen wasn’t worried. The bigger fish will eat more than once a day, but the smaller fish may eat only once a day or less, depending on their temperament.
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