Fishy Christmas at Japanese Aquarium 

2009-11-16 12:57

 

Swarms of Japanese sardines captivate adults and children alike at an aquarium on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Yokohama’s Sea Paradise has a troupe of 50,000 sardines swimming to Christmas music. As the lights turn white and green, the swirl of fish seems to be forming a Christmas tree.

Visitors are happy to pay the 30-dollar park ticket to witness this fishy Holiday celebration.

[Kei Aoki, Aquarium Visitor]: 
"I think it's a brilliant idea to visualize a Christmas tree with swarms of fish."

[Tetsuya Hanjo, Aquarium Visitor]:
"I don't know how they made it possible, but it did look like a tree. I was quite moved."

You may be wondering how this works… Well, it just boils down to appetite. The magic tree appears by ejecting controlled amounts of feed at specific places and certain times to direct the swarm.

But some visitors seem not that convinced.

[Takenori Endo, Aquarium Visitor]:
"It was beautiful, absolutely. But I'm not sure if it looked like a tree."

Nearby, sardines that did not make the show were given away as early Christmas presents to Beluga whales by a scuba-diving Santa Claus.