 June 2009 - The Flying Sharks, Tunipex and Coris teams pose for a group photo during a quick break while loading the fish going to the Ozeaneum, in Stralsund - Germany.
|  June 2009 - When close to 1.000 fish need to be moved in a short time, nothing beats a well coordinated chain of people to process hundreds of plastic bags.
|
 June 2009 - Inside the holding tank, José Graça (Flying Sharks - right) and Mestre Alfredo (Tunipex - left) carefully seine lots of fish and restrain them inside a vinyl cage, from which they are then removed in plastic bags.
|  June 2009 - This move was a particularly delicate one due to the unusually high number of specimens to be transported, which required two trucks loaded with 10 tanks: Mola mola, Scomber scombrus, Trachurus trachurus, Sarpa salpa, Mugil cephalus, Dasyatis pastinaca, Myliobatis aquila, Torpedo torpedo, Raja undulata, Diplodus cervinus, Pagrus pagrus, Boops boops, Spondyliosoma cantharus, Scorpaena scrofa, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, Serranidae (Fam.), Muraena helena, Palinurus elephas and Octopus vulgaris.
|
 June 2009 - Even while the tanks are offloaded and mounted on aircraft pallets, water quality testing must not stop, as moving Scomber scombrus in such high densities (approx. 25 Kg / m3), for over 28 hours, required constant monitoring (and adjustment) of O2, pH and ammonia...
|  June 2009 - ...But the folks from DHL have gotten to know us Flying Sharkers pretty good and palletizing goes on without a hitch.
|
 June 2009 - The very last thing to do, before boarding the aircraft, is pulling out the filtration of all transport tanks. The filters won't be placed back online until the team is safely down on the ground at DHL's hub in Leipzig.
|  June 2009 - This time we pretty much filled up DHL's Boeing 757 and there wasn't much room for anything else after we loaded all our tanks!
|
 June 2009 - After arriving in Leipzig, where we rendez vous with Dr. Nicole Kube (left), there is still a good 5 hour drive, behind the transport trucks, all the way North to the Ozeaneum in Stralsund. But good ol' Red Bull keeps the team awake and spirits are high because multiple water quality and system checks tell us all fish are doing well.
|  June 2009 - Upon arrival at the Ozeaneum, the staff is eager to offload and acclimate the new critters. This is the aquarium's largest incoming shipment and a local TV crew is there to document the event (and help move some fish, although they didn't know about it until we handed them a plastic bag loaded with water and fish swimming inside... ;-).
|
 June 2009 - Some 28 hours after packing started, all fish are properly acclimated and leisurely swimming in their new quarantine tanks.
|  June 2009 - The few days after arrival are spent ensuring the Mola mola are feeding properly and adapting to their new environment, cruising around Stralsund and packing all the gear so it may return back to Portugal. After all that, not much left to do but to put the feet up and relax during the train ride to Berlin and then flight home.
|
June 2009 - The Flying Sharks, Tunipex and Coris teams pose for a group photo during a quick break while loading the fish going to the Ozeaneum, in Stralsund - Germany.
June 2009 - When close to 1.000 fish need to be moved in a short time, nothing beats a well coordinated chain of people to process hundreds of plastic bags.
June 2009 - Inside the holding tank, José Graça (Flying Sharks - right) and Mestre Alfredo (Tunipex - left) carefully seine lots of fish and restrain them inside a vinyl cage, from which they are then removed in plastic bags.
June 2009 - This move was a particularly delicate one due to the unusually high number of specimens to be transported, which required two trucks loaded with 10 tanks: Mola mola, Scomber scombrus, Trachurus trachurus, Sarpa salpa, Mugil cephalus, Dasyatis pastinaca, Myliobatis aquila, Torpedo torpedo, Raja undulata, Diplodus cervinus, Pagrus pagrus, Boops boops, Spondyliosoma cantharus, Scorpaena scrofa, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, Serranidae (Fam.), Muraena helena, Palinurus elephas and Octopus vulgaris.
June 2009 - Even while the tanks are offloaded and mounted on aircraft pallets, water quality testing must not stop, as moving Scomber scombrus in such high densities (approx. 25 Kg / m3), for over 28 hours, required constant monitoring (and adjustment) of O2, pH and ammonia...
June 2009 - ...But the folks from DHL have gotten to know us Flying Sharkers pretty good and palletizing goes on without a hitch.
June 2009 - The very last thing to do, before boarding the aircraft, is pulling out the filtration of all transport tanks. The filters won't be placed back online until the team is safely down on the ground at DHL's hub in Leipzig.
June 2009 - This time we pretty much filled up DHL's Boeing 757 and there wasn't much room for anything else after we loaded all our tanks!
June 2009 - After arriving in Leipzig, where we rendez vous with Dr. Nicole Kube (left), there is still a good 5 hour drive, behind the transport trucks, all the way North to the Ozeaneum in Stralsund. But good ol' Red Bull keeps the team awake and spirits are high because multiple water quality and system checks tell us all fish are doing well.
June 2009 - Upon arrival at the Ozeaneum, the staff is eager to offload and acclimate the new critters. This is the aquarium's largest incoming shipment and a local TV crew is there to document the event (and help move some fish, although they didn't know about it until we handed them a plastic bag loaded with water and fish swimming inside... ;-).
June 2009 - Some 28 hours after packing started, all fish are properly acclimated and leisurely swimming in their new quarantine tanks.
June 2009 - The few days after arrival are spent ensuring the Mola mola are feeding properly and adapting to their new environment, cruising around Stralsund and packing all the gear so it may return back to Portugal. After all that, not much left to do but to put the feet up and relax during the train ride to Berlin and then flight home.