| MEGAVISSEY HARBOUR AQUARIUM Text
by David Marshall Photographs by Sue and David Marshall Background The
Cornish coastal town of Megavissey is best described as a 'sheer delight'. Narrow
streets (beware of traffic being very relevant), housing an amazing assortment
of small shops, lead into what is without doubt the most picturesque small harbour
I have ever seen. The trail leading Sue and I to the Harbour Aquarium had
begun a decade ago when Alan Holmes (a former Secretary of the now, sadly, disbanded
York & District A.S.) told us all about the wonderful aquarium situated on
the South Quay at Megavissey, which the local people proudly boasted of as being
'the smallest aquarium in the World'. Finally arriving in the town, September
2008, we could find no directions to the South Quay so asked the lady in charge
of the local Tourist Information point, 'Do you have an Aquarium'? To this question
the lady replied, in a very proud manner, 'We certainly do!' and pointed us in
the right direction (you virtually walk as far as you can to the right of the
main harbour area and underneath the cliffs). 
Before
we look at the Aquarium of today a little history. The Aquarium is housed in the
former R.N.L.I. Lifeboat House. Opened in the mid-1950's The Aquarium remained
relatively unchanged until 2004 when it was discovered that part of its concrete
make-up had deteriorated very badly. At this point the building was closed down
before£50,000 was raised, with some help from the Heritage Lottery Fund,
in order to make both the building safe and add modern information boards that
would allow visitors to learn all about the various native marine creatures on
view in the display aquariums. The newly restored Aquarium, thus, re-opened on
8th June 2006 as a seasonal attraction which is open from April to September,
11.00a.m. to 5.00p.m. Today 
Amazingly
admission to the Megavissey Harbour Aquarium is free! Visitors are welcome to
make a donation and all of the money raised goes towards the general upkeep of
the harbour. Walking through the entrance you are immediately struck by
the impression that this is a 'much loved' enterprise. No gift shop or café
area here, just seven large display aquaria in which all the exhibited creatures
appeared to be very healthy and happy in the surroundings of well thought out
décor. None of these aquaria are overstocked so the creatures, mainly fish,
have ample room to move around. 
At
the time of our visit the opening aquaria was home to some very impressive Conger
eels (Conger conger) that had Dogfish (genus Scyliorhinidae) and Lobsters for
company. If you have never truly seen living specimens of many of the species
offered for sale on your local fishmongers slab then here are Cod (genus Gadus),
Plaice (genus Pleuronectes) and many more in all their living glory. Some beautiful
Wrasse (genus Labrus) caught my eye while the Tompot blennies (Parablennius gattorugine),
featured in one of our photographs, lazed about entwined in the décor. 
In
conclusion I strongly recommend a visit to Megavissey Harbour Aquarium. You will
not be disappointed by the Aquarium itself or by both the natural and man-made
beauty that surrounds it.
| 
