Fish in the News. Each week the Bailey Brothers start the Pet Fish Talk Show with some fun and interesting stories about fish in the news.       At the St. Louis Mills Mall in Hazelwood, Missouri, George Schmidt Builds a 5,000-sq.-foot Aquarium. Now this is amazing. Longtime fish enthusiast George Schmidt of North County accomplished a dream of his when he recently built a 5,000-square-foot aquarium at the St. Louis Mills Mall in Hazelwood, Missouri. The aquarium, which consists of 12 huge tanks and several smaller ones, houses sparkling golden and red-bellied piranha as well as hundreds of other freshwater fish that come from Southeast Asia, South and Central America and West Africa. "Piranha don't normally attack people in the wild," said Schmidt, 45, as he fed the piranha cut-up smelt. "I'm sure there are times of the year when South Americans don't go in the water." Schmidt's dream to build a large aquarium went unrealized until he found a strong epoxy resin to seal the tanks. "I made the display myself," he said, explaining that he used "thousands of concrete blocks, hundreds of wood panels and hundreds of Plexiglas sheets." To make the exhibit more viewable, Schmidt positioned the tanks low to the floor for children and placed chairs across from the tanks for the adults. The 12 larger tanks hold 40,000 gallons of water apiece. Each tank has a label, naming the types of fish inside. In addition to building the tanks, Schmidt demonstrates his artistry by using rocks, bamboo, tree branches and low lighting to create an ecological-friendly environment for the fish. Schmidt said he talked with St. Louis Mills management for six to eight months before constructing the tanks, which weigh 16 tons apiece when filled. "The number one rule is no water on the floor," he said, laughing. According to Schmidt, more than 40 species have spawned in the last six months. Spawning represents an achievement, he said, "because exotic fish rarely spawn in captivity." Gary McIlvane, a member of the Missouri Aquarium Society, called the display fantastic. "A lot of local stores show fish they really shouldn't," McIlvane said. "The only way they (the fish) are happy is in a big tank. George (provides) a much more natural environment than your average hobbyist. He is considered an expert on exotic fish in the St. Louis area." Doug Volling of Lake St. Louis recently visited the exhibit. "This is the best freshwater aquarium I've ever seen," Volling said. "I have 200-gallon tanks, and these make mine look tiny. Most hobbyists dream of having something like this." Schmidt has been interested in fish since he received his first goldfish as a child. "I never grew out of it," he said. "I've been keeping fish for 45 years. It consumes all my time." Schmidt seems pleased with the response he receives from visitors. "I try to gauge if people just want to look around or talk fish talk," Schmidt said. "The more you sit and look at (the fish), the more interesting (they) get. "I've had people (dragged) in by spouses, and they leave loving it. They had no idea fish could be this interesting." Admission to the exhibit is $2 for adults and free for children 3 and younger. Click here to read more. Extra special big thanks to Jourdan from Connecticut for emailing us the link to this wonderful story.       Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Colossal Squid's True Size is Revealed. The exact size of a frozen colossal squid that was thawed this week has been revealed by New Zealand officials. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa says the squid shrank drastically due to water and temperature changes since it was caught accidentally by fisherman in 2007. After waiting for the tentacles to defrost so the squid could be fully extended, the researchers measured its weight at nearly 495 kilograms and its length at over 4 metres. The squid's heft and large beak "confirm that it was almost certainly longer and is still the largest invertebrate specimen in the world," says Te Papa spokesperson Jane Keig. She adds that it also has the largest eye of any animal at about nearly 27 centimetres in diameter. Click here to read more.       The Lower Congo River in Africa The Freaky Fish of the Congo The Congo River is a place of superlatives; it is the world’s second largest river basin, draining an area the size of Europe; so immense that its source waters in the highlands of east Africa take more than six months to exit into the Atlantic Ocean, some 2,900 miles (4,670 km) to the west. The river and its tributaries represent over 9,000 miles (14,500 km) of navigable passage across central Africa, and provide food and livelihoods for the 30 million people who live in this vast region. This massive river also forms one of the largest biogeographical barriers in Africa. For example, our closest relatives, the chimps (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobos (Pan paniscus) are separated by the Congo River; chimps are found only to the north and bonobos only to the south. Many other animals show a similar pattern of distribution; the Congo River has clearly played an important role in sorting African biogeography. Nevertheless, we know surprisingly little about its history. But we do know that the river has not always looked the way it does today. Geologists estimate that perhaps as recently as half a million years ago, the Congo was a large lake or series of lakes with no outflow to the Atlantic Ocean. At some point the Congo breached a high plateau in the region of present day Malebo Pool — a peculiar place where the river expands into an enormous 14-mile-wide (22.5 km-wide) pool. In Conrad’s day this strange place was known as Stanley Pool, after the explorer and emissary of the now infamous Belgian King Leopold II. Most of the great inland lake was drained and a "new" river cascaded down through the gorges of the Crystal Mountain region, dropping about 920 feet (280 m) over 220 miles (350 km) to reach the Atlantic. Today, some of the most spectacular rapids on Earth and a rich endemic fish fauna are found in the river as it flows between Pool Malebo and the Atlantic. These fishes are termed lower Congo "endemics" because they occur only in this short stretch of the river. It is this region, called the lower Congo River rapids, with its spectacular array of rapids, pools and runs, that is our study area. Click here to read more.       University of Vienna, Austria Size of Swimbladders Affects Hearing in Catfishes. Otophysine fish possess Weberian ossicles, which connect the swimbladder to the inner ear and improve hearing ability. There is a high diversity in the morphology of the swimbladder and Weberian apparatus in catfishes, which might affect hearing. We have examined these structures in representatives of six families with large, single bladders (Ariidae, Auchenipteridae, Heptapteridae, Malapteruridae, Mochokidae, Pseudopimelodidae) and five subfamilies from two families (Callichthyidae, Loricariidae) having small, paired, encapsulated bladders. We tested their hearing abilities utilizing the non-invasive auditory evoked potential recording technique. Species with single, non-encapsulated, free airbladders possess one, three or four ossicles, whereas species with encapsulated bladders possess one or two. The relative sizes of the bladders and ossicles were significantly smaller in the latter group. ... These results indicate that larger bladders and ossicles as well as higher ossicle numbers improve hearing ability at higher frequencies in catfishes. We furthermore assume that the tiny bladders have minimized their hydrostatic function but were not completely lost because of their auditory function. Click here to read more. Special thanks to Robert in New Jersey for the link to this story.       University of Konstanz, Germany Body Shape Variation in Red Devil Cichlids Cichlid fishes are known for their adaptive radiations with prolific speciation, but also for their substantial intraspecific polymorphism and phenotypic plasticity. The Amphilophus citrinellus species complex from lakes of Nicaragua has been studied extensively as an example of trophic and colour polymorphism and possible sympatric speciation. We use the methods of geometric morphometrics to investigate variation in body shape in this species complex. There is significant shape variation between the widespread A. citrinellus and the more locally distributed A. labiatus and A. zaliosus, which shows patterns that are consistent with the taxonomic descriptions of those taxa. Contrary to the expectations from models of adaptive character divergence, the shape differences between species in analyses restricted to populations occurring syntopically are smaller than the corresponding differences computed from samples pooled over all locations. Within A. citrinellus, there is considerable variation among lakes as well as between the alternative colour and trophic morphs, suggesting local differentiation based on genetic and ecophenotypic mechanisms. Click here to read more. Special thanks to Robert in New Jersey for the link to this story.         University of California at Riverside Scientists Learning from Marine Animals.  Marine snails, sea urchins, and other animals from the sea are teaching researchers in UC Riverside's Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering how to make the world a better place. Consider, for example, the possibilities of designing a lightweight armor that would protect U.S. soldiers in Iraq from Improvised Explosive Devices. Or, what flexible ceramics might offer industry. Or, how everyone could benefit from new ways of producing and storing energy. Nature holds these secrets and the answers to the questions that Prof. David Kisailus's research group is learning how to ask. "My hope," Kisailus said, "is that we can truly learn from these organisms how to design, optimize, and synthesize engineering materials that display properties that we as engineers can only dream of."  Click here to read more.       Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, Global Reference Library of Marine Life DNA. ... imagine scanning a DNA barcode on the piece of fish you just bought for dinner to instantly verify the species, where it came from, its nutritional value, and other valuable information. NOAA researchers are helping to make this scenario a reality. "We need to accurately identify species for a number of reasons, from documenting the biodiversity of poorly sampled species and geographic areas to understanding populations and managing global fisheries in a sustainable way,” said Bruce Collette, a zoologist at NOAA’s National Systematics Laboratory (NSL) located in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. "DNA barcoding is another tool in the toolbox of taxonomists and researchers who study, document, and organize knowledge about all life forms on earth.” Click here to read more. Special thanks to Robert in New Jersey for the link to this story.   Callers during this Show Jourdan from Connecticut calls and talks about The Aquarium Wiki. Click here to visit that site, and click here to visit the forum. Jourdan also talked about putting your video on his web site. Bonnie from Iowa called and talked about the new pond she is digging in her backyard. It will be 4'x8' and screened in, so she can site by and not be bothered by insects. Sounds very good. Evan from Colorado calls and we talk about the photos of Hawaii that he took during his recent trip. Click here to see some of those photos.   Later Evan from Colorado sent us an Email. hi guys, Good call today. As I said I have some flower pictures that I would like to share with you. I am not adding any special affects to them so they are nicer for you to put on the website. These are the best 5 that I have. Evan             Thanks again, Evan, for these beautiful pictures of flowers taken recently in Hawaii during your vacation them.   The Bailey Brothers encourage YOU to call Pet Fish Talk during the show and talk about your pet fish.     Download of this Entire Show Here's how: Right-Click here, then click on "Save Target (or Link) As ...".  Navigate to the folder you prefer, and click on the button labeled "Save". 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