The wet lanai contained a number of aquaria and sea tables with continuously running sea water. For a while up until typhoon Pamela in November of 1982, it also supported a small hydroponic garden at one end.
While I was temporarily working at the lab in November and December of 1978, the wet lanai also housed a steel-framed standup swimming pool used to keep four small blacktip sharks, which were being fed a controlled diet to determine growth rates. Although plastic lined on the inside, the continual barrage of salt water was not good for the outer steel tank, which was leaking through numerous holes.
There was a new tank to put up, but where do you put the sharks while exchanging the new tank for the old? The sea tables are too shallow and the aquaria too small. Why it's obvious. We had plenty of boats.
During that 1978 stay, the south end of the wet lanai was also a place for visiting scientists and the staff to regroup between trips out into the lagoon.
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