A 33-year-old man presented with very itchy red papules on the back of his hands and forearms. These papules appeared about 90 min after he had cleaned his aquarium in which he kept native fish and watersnails. He had obtained the watersnails some weeks before from a nearby pond. Examination of water from the aquarium revealed cercariae. The clinical diagnosis of cercarial dermatitis was corrob...

A survey conducted by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, in collaboration with national and regional zoo and aquarium associations, showed that annually more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums worldwide and are thus potentially exposed to environmental education. Furthermore, the world zoo and aquarium community reportedly spends about US$ 350 million on wildlife conserv...

Hydroquinone when added to the aquarium water was found to be about a hundred times more toxic than phenol, to goldfish (and to Daphnia magna), but is only about twice as toxic when injected into fish or mammals. Tertiarybutyl catechol shows a similar high toxicity in the aquarium, while the toxicity of catechol, resorcinol, and pyrogallol approaches more closely that of phenol. As the substanc...

Figure 1: The virtual aquarium system. Figure 2: Example scene from the virtual aquarium. 1. Introduction Modern day science museums have embraced the idea of using highly interactive exhibits to attract, involve and engage their visitors. Zoos and aquaria however suffer from the problem that direct interaction with animals and plants is not always desirable. While the interest of visitors in i...