Durban - Strong mussel growth under Moyo Pier in the summer months means that more food than usual accumulates on the pipes that provide snacks to the residents of uShaka Marine World’s aquarium.
After the recent heat, more effort has been needed to clear them.
“We scrape off the pipes so that we can access the nuts and bolts of the intake system for servicing,” the institution’s curator Simon Chater told the Independent on Saturday.
Mussel clearing usually involves a member of staff walking down to the water’s edge with a bucket, but every few months a bigger effort is required, as has happened this month.
“At certain times of the year, it’s more dense. That’s in summer, generally, when there’s quicker regrowth,” said Chater.
uShaka capitalises on the exercise, offering snacks to creatures like pineapple fish and little scorpion fish in the tanks.
“When we collect, we shake out the mussel clumps and often get crabs and shrimps too.”
Red bait also comes with the package.
It’s a negligible amount compared with the one-and-a-half tons of fish food brought in for the aquarium each month, said Chater.
The pier has been earmarked for a controversial R50 million extension that includes making it possible for seawater to be sucked in from deeper water. It is believed that the present inlet has been affected by sand pumping.
eThekwini spokesman Msawakhe Mayisela said: “With regard to the Moyo Pier extension project, the project is still on the horizon.
“The reason for the original length and proposed extension is to address the wells that feed the Aquarium which at the current depth result in Ushaka Marine having to further chill the water to get it to the levels required by the sea life inside the aquarium.
With regard to sand pumping affecting this wells, it is not correct that the reason for extension is driven by sand clogging the wells but will help alleviate this operational challenge that occurs from time to time.”
The Independent on Saturday