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ABOUT US
MARC, Digha
MARC, Digha
Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre (MARC) was established on July 1, 1989. The centre has three distinct wings viz. research centre, aquarium and marine museum in addition to facilities for mass education to people. The research wing of the centre started functioning in 1989; however, the aquarium was opened for public since 2003 and the Marine museum with more than five hundred marine species of vertebrates and invertebrates displayed since 2016, and Sundarban walkthrough diorama, 42 feet long Brydes whale skeleton and Instrumentation museum were displayed since 2017. Area under jurisdiction includes all the coastal states of India covering 7517 kilometers. It was set up with the objectives of conducting education and awareness programme through the marine aquarium and marine museum which is an integral part of MARC and providing infrastructure facility for conducting professional training course on coastal and marine ecosystem. More than 11 training programmes were provided to several students, research scholars, and researchers of college and university, and forest officials, coastal police, officials of fishery department, coastal community and State Government Officials of West Bengal. Total holdings of the Centre include 75,970 specimens of which 48,457 specimens of named collection and 27,513 unnamed specimens and 48 Type specimens. This regional centre has completed 22 Annual Research Programmes involving marine faunal exploration in various protected and non-protected areas of Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Odisha and West Bengal along with studies on diversity, taxonomic, status survey and associated fauna from different ecosystems. Currently, there are six ongoing Annual Research Programmes in the Centre. The Centre has published 03 books, more than 130 research papers in various reputed journals, 30 book chapters and 13 abstract published. The Centre was recognized as a Research Centre for conducting research leading to Ph.D. degree of the West Bengal State University, Kolkata. More than three lakhs visitors including foreigners, journalist, senior officers, college & school staff and students, research scholar from different reputed intuitions/universities visited the marine aquarium and museum of the Centre.
- The Marine Aquarium
- Visitors
- Area under Jurisdiction
- NZC
- Major Projects
- Taxonomic Expertise
- Modern Infrastructure
- Staff
- Training and Extension
Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre (MARC) is the one of largest inbuilt public marine aquarium in the country and equipped with two sections viz. marine and fresh water. Marine section in the aquarium equipped with 22 tanks of each 8000liters capacity (15' x 5' x 5') and 2 large sizes of 14000 liters capacity (20' x 5' x 5'). The fresh water section consists of another 16 small tanks. The aquarium has different divisions of exhibits i.e. the species of conservation importance, the local, ornamental species, rescued species and freshwater species. Annually, nearly 4 lakh visitors arevisiting the Aquarium of the centre. The research wing extends facilities to all accredited researchers, working in the field of taxonomy especially in costal & marine fauna, and socioeconomic aspects of coastal marine ecosystem.
The Aquarium opened to the public on 4th February 2003. Species exhibited include sea anemones, hermit crabs, horse-shoe crabs, fiddler crabs, lobsters, starfishes, knob stars, sharks, rays, terapons, scates, eels, groupers, squirrel fish, lion fish, different varieties of damsel fishes, butterfly fishes, sea snakes, sucker fish, puffer fish, clown fish, wrasses, tang fishes, parrot fish, batfish etc. The centre is able to contribute information on various aspects of coastal and marine biodiversity, bio-monitoring of sea water, life history of animals in captivity, behaviour of the marine animals in the captivity, survival and acclimatization of the animals to the marine tanks besides education and mass awareness programmes.
In addition to the live exhibits, a Marine Museum was opened for the public on 3rd February 2016, which contains a Bony fish gallery, cartilaginous fish gallery, Coral gallery, Molluscan gallery with more than 500 marine species display (fishes, sea snakes, molluscs, corals, crabs, prawns, lobsters Echinoderms, horse-shoe crabs etc.). The museum also displays several awareness posters related to marine life, marine biodiversity conservation, Marine fauna of India as well as marine fauna of West Bengal. Also, the life size models of 5 species of sea turtles found in India are exhibited in the Museum. Moreover, the museum is helping many students and public for the purpose of awareness on marine biodiversity conservations as well as serves as a very good platform for the students having interest on marine biology from all over India. The museum was inaugurated by Shri Hem Pande, Honourable Special Secretary, MoEFCC, Shri Sisir Adhikari, MP (Loksabha), Contai in Presence of Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director, Zoological Survey of India and Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India.
42 ft whale skeleton
LIBRARY
The library houses a variety of books on marine biology, general zoology, entomology, fish, ecology, aquaculture, environment, and conservation. The total holdings of the centre include, 2314 [Total No. of Books: 1439 & Total No. of journals: 875]. The library is visited by scientific researchers, students, and the general public for the collection of information on local fauna.
The Marine Aquarium
Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre (MARC) is one of the largest in-built public marine aquariums in the country and is equipped with two sections, viz. marine and fresh water. The marine section in the aquarium is equipped with 22 tanks of each 8000 liter capacity (15' x 5' x 5') and 2 large sizes of 14000 liter capacity (20' x 5' x 5'). The fresh water section consists of another 16 small tanks. The aquarium has different divisions of exhibits, i.e., species of conservation importance, local species, ornamental species, rescued species, and freshwater species. Annually, nearly 4 lakh visitors visit the Aquarium of the centre. The research wing extends facilities to all accredited researchers working in the field of taxonomy, especially in coastal & marine fauna and socioeconomic aspects of coastal marine ecosystems.
The aquarium opened to the public on February 4, 2003. Species exhibited include sea anemones, hermit crabs, horse-shoe crabs, fiddler crabs, lobsters, starfishes, knob stars, sharks, rays, terapons, scates, eels, groupers, squirrel fish, lion fish, different varieties of damsel fishes, butterfly fishes, sea snakes, sucker fish, puffer fish, clown fish, wrasses, tang fishes, parrot fish, batfish, etc. The centre is able to contribute information on various aspects of coastal and marine biodiversity, bio-monitoring of seawater, life history of animals in captivity, behavior of the marine animals in captivity, survival, and acclimatization of the animals to the marine tanks, besides education and mass awareness programmes.
In addition to the live exhibits, a Marine Museum was opened for the public on February 3, 2016, which contains a bony fish gallery, cartilaginous fish gallery, coral gallery, and molluscan gallery with more than 500 marine species displayed (fishes, sea snakes, molluscs, corals, crabs, prawns, lobsters, echinoderms, horseshoe crabs, etc.). The museum also displays several awareness posters related to marine life, marine biodiversity conservation, the marine fauna of India, and the marine fauna of West Bengal. Also, the life-size models of five species of sea turtles found in India are exhibited in the museum. Moreover, the museum is helping many students and the public raise awareness about marine biodiversity conservation and serves as a very good platform for students with an interest in marine biology from all over India. The museum was inaugurated by Shri Hem Pande, Honourable Special Secretary, MoEFCC, Shri Sisir Adhikari, MP (Loksabha), Contai in the presence of Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director, Zoological Survey of India and Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India.
A 42 ft whale stranded at Digha Mohana in 2012 has been processed, and the skeleton has been prepared and exhibited for the public. Which is one of the major attractions at MARC, ZSI, Digha. The Skeleton was inaugurated by Dr. Amita Prasad, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC on October 6, 2017 in The presence of Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director Zoological Survey of India and Shri Rajendra Jakhar, Additional Project Director, State Project Management Unit, ICZM Project, West Bengal.
A walk-through diorama was developed at MARC, ZSI, under ICZMP, which gives the impact of mangrove walk at MARC, ZSI, Digha Aquarium campus. The Sundarban walk-through diorama was inaugurated by Dr. Amita Prasad, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC on October 6, 2017, in Presence of Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director Zoological Survey of India and Shri Rajendra Jakhar, Additional Project Director, State Project Management Unit, ICZM Project, West Bengal.
An Instrumentation Museum displaying more than 70 equipments used in the study of different parameters (Biological, Physical and Chemicals in marine biology are displayed with labels. This museum was useful for the students of Marine Science and Zoology to get first-hand information, experience and will encourage the students to carry forward studies on marine science and research. The Museum was inaugurated by Dr. Amita Prasad, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC on October 6, 2017, in Presence of Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director Zoological Survey of India and Shri Rajendra Jakhar, Addl. Project Director, State Project Management Unit, ICZM Project, West Bengal.
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