Christopher Gillette is adorning his office in Bozeman, Montana with a 3.5m by 1.2m tank. It will be filled with 3800 litres of seawater and set up as a mini marine eco-system, complete with blacktip reef shark imported from the Caribbean and a bamboo shark, to be hatched from eggs in the tank.
To support the filled tank weight of about 8 tonnes,
floor joists and other structures in the building were reinforced. A Bozeman aquarium company craned the tank in through Gillette's second-floor office window. A computerised sensor system will warn Gillette of any water-quality or other problems.
Gillette, a family lawyer, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that, apart from satisfying his own aesthetic taste, the tank would help to relax clients present to discuss difficult issues.
Four smaller tanks will contain marine life such as reef clusters, starfish and sea urchins.
'People seem to be comfortable with fish,' Gillette told the newspaper. Presumably they are not phased by coming across sharks in a law office. |
