Stained glass fishes

A rainy Sunday forced the wife and me to forgo the usual zoo visit with the kids, and head for the Berlin Aquarium instead (and what a sorry wikipedia page – added to to-do list). It is not a cheap trip, but the city of Berlin sponsors mothers a one-year card to the zoo (you can choose which one) and the aquarium at birth. Lionel being 4 months old it was high time we made use of the 50% reduction this means for us (our kids are so young that they don’t have to pay entrance fees).

I’ll have much to say about the Aquarium one of these days, because it is a fairly large and very nice one, and it does have a lot of animals outside gollum-fodder. Iguanas and crocs, for example. Tuataras, turtles, tortoises, monitor lizards. Today, however, I will continue with the description of animal depictions: previously, I discussed the palaeo-art on the building’s zoo front (not “back”, because this building has two fronts, no back).

Inside, the re-building has left a somewhat odd mixture of rebuilt-old and concrete parts. I couldn’t find any information on the stained glass fishes I want to show you, but I suspect that as with the mosaics and bas-reliefs on the outside, the vast majority was re-created based on photographs. I found 19 stained glass windows, and suspect that they used to be an even number.

The glass fishes (and other marine critters) are mounted above the rows of small tanks along the walls of the first floor. They are back-lit, so that they are easy to see (and photograph) even in the near-darkness that is so common to aquariums (you do not want all the glass to mirror the visitors, after all, but show you the fishes). Here’s one, more are below the fold, along with a competition

Here’s the challenge: name correctly, as far as can be determined, as many of the critters in these pictures (email me, do not reply in comments). Winner gets a beer and guided tour of the MFN on her/his next Berlin visit.