Annual stock take at the Blue Planet Aquarium at Cheshire Oaks

Jan 17 2011 Chester Chronicle

THE annual stock take has taken place at Blue Planet Aquarium at Cheshire Oaks which carried out its own version of a ‘fishy census’.

Staff at the award-winning aquarium invited visitors to volunteer to help spot and record the number of certain species including sharks, rays, clown fish, otters and diving ducks.

Blue Planet’s Paul Renolds said: “January has traditionally always been the time of year when we do an official check on our animal stock holding.

“Last year was particularly successful for captive breeding programmes with everything from baby otters and poison dart frogs to scorpions, geckos, baby sharks and rays being born.

“In fact it was such a good year that we thought it would be a good idea to enlist the help of our visitors in the whole process as well and turn it into a fun activity that everyone can take part in.

“Obviously some creatures are rather more easy to count than others; the larger sharks are usually fairly straightforward, although there are a number of other shark species that like to spend much of their time either hidden among the rocks or under the sand. Our rays can be tricky, as can the diving ducks and clown fish as they rush around a lot.”